Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology (1915) is one of the most original works in American poetry. Over 200 former residents of the fictional Midwestern town of Spoon River speak their own epitaphs from the grave, revealing — with startling candor — the thwarted ambitions, secret loves, hypocrisies, and quiet dignities of small-town American life. The voices range across all social classes, and the poems interlock to form a portrait of an entire community.
Shocking on its first publication for its frank treatment of adultery, corruption, and unhappiness, the book is now recognized as a masterpiece of American literary realism. Download the free EPUB and let Spoon River speak.