John Hancock Otis

    As to democracy, fellow citizens,
    Are you not prepared to admit
    That I, who inherited riches and was to the manor born,
    Was second to none in Spoon River
    In my devotion to the cause of Liberty?
    While my contemporary, Anthony Findlay,
    Born in a shanty and beginning life
    As a water carrier to the section hands,
    Then becoming a section hand when he was grown,
    Afterwards foreman of the gang, until he rose
    To the superintendency of the railroad,
    Living in Chicago,
    Was a veritable slave driver,
    Grinding the faces of labor,
    And a bitter enemy of democracy.
    And I say to you, Spoon River,
    And to you, O republic,
    Beware of the man who rises to power
    From one suspender.

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. Born in Kansas and raised in Illinois, Masters is best known for his collection of poems entitled "Spoon River Anthology" (1915), which is a series of epitaphs of residents of the fictional small town of Spoon River. His works reflect the everyday lives and frustrations of middle America. Masters also practiced law and wrote biographies for historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain.

Edgar Lee Masters

William Goode

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

The Vision

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

Louise Smith

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

Madeline

Edgar Lee Masters, Simple Poetry

English

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Elliott Hawkins

    I looked like Abraham Lincoln.
    I was one of you, Spoon River, in all fellowship,
    But standing for the rights of property and for order.
    A regular church attendant,
    Sometimes appearing in your town meetings to warn you
    Against the evils of discontent and envy
    And to denounce those who tried to destroy the Union,
    And to point to the peril of the Knights of Labor.
    My success and my example are inevitable influences
    In your young men and in generations to come,
    In spite of attacks of newspapers like the Clarion;
    A regular visitor at Springfield
    When the Legislature was in session
    To prevent raids upon the railroads
    And the men building up the state.
    Trusted by them and by you, Spoon River, equally
   ...

Edgar Lee Masters

Enoch Dunlap

    How many times, during the twenty years
    I was your leader, friends of Spoon River,
    Did you neglect the convention and caucus,
    And leave the burden on my hands
    Of guarding and saving the people's cause? -
    Sometimes because you were ill;
    Or your grandmother was ill;
    Or you drank too much and fell asleep;
    Or else you said: "He is our leader,
    All will be well; he fights for us;
    We have nothing to do but follow."
    But oh, how you cursed me when I fell,
    And cursed me, saying I had betrayed you,
    In leaving the caucus room for a moment,
    When the people's enemies, there assembled,
    Waited and watched for a chance to destroy
    The Sacred Rights of the People.
    You common rabble! I left the caucus

Edgar Lee Masters

Silas Dement

    It was moon-light, and the earth sparkled
    With new-fallen frost.
    It was midnight and not a soul abroad.
    Out of the chimney of the court-house
    A gray-hound of smoke leapt and chased
    The northwest wind.
    I carried a ladder to the landing of the stairs
    And leaned it against the frame of the trap-door
    In the ceiling of the portico,
    And I crawled under the roof and amid the rafters
    And flung among the seasoned timbers
    A lighted handful of oil-soaked waste.
    Then I came down and slunk away.
    In a little while the fire-bell rang -
    Clang! Clang! Clang!
    And the Spoon River ladder company
    Came with a dozen buckets and began to pour water
    On the glorious bon-fire, growing hotter
    Higher and...

Edgar Lee Masters

Jacob Godbey

    How did you feel, you libertarians,
    Who spent your talents rallying noble reasons
    Around the saloon, as if Liberty
    Was not to be found anywhere except at the bar
    Or at a table, guzzling?
    How did you feel, Ben Pantier, and the rest of you,
    Who almost stoned me for a tyrant
    Garbed as a moralist,
    And as a wry-faced ascetic frowning upon Yorkshire pudding,
    Roast beef and ale and good will and rosy cheer -
    Things you never saw in a grog-shop in your life?
    How did you feel after I was dead and gone,
    And your goddess, Liberty, unmasked as a strumpet,
    Selling out the streets of Spoon River
    To the insolent giants
    Who manned the saloons from afar?
    Did it occur to you that personal liberty
    Is li...

Edgar Lee Masters

Seth Compton

    When I died, the circulating library
    Which I built up for Spoon River,
    And managed for the good of inquiring minds,
    Was sold at auction on the public square,
    As if to destroy the last vestige
    Of my memory and influence.
    For those of you who could not see the virtue
    Of knowing Volney's "Ruins" as well as Butler's "Analogy"
    And "Faust" as well as "Evangeline,"
    Were really the power in the village,
    And often you asked me
    "What is the use of knowing the evil in the world?"
    I am out of your way now, Spoon River,
    Choose your own good and call it good.
    For I could never make you see
    That no one knows what is good
    Who knows not what is evil;
    And no one knows what is true
    Who knows no...

Edgar Lee Masters

Lambert Hutchins

    I have two monuments besides this granite obelisk:
    One, the house I built on the hill,
    With its spires, bay windows, and roof of slate.
    The other, the lake-front in Chicago,
    Where the railroad keeps a switching yard,
    With whistling engines and crunching wheels
    And smoke and soot thrown over the city,
    And the crash of cars along the boulevard, -
    A blot like a hog-pen on the harbor
    Of a great metropolis, foul as a sty.
    I helped to give this heritage
    To generations yet unborn, with my vote
    In the House of Representatives,
    And the lure of the thing was to be at rest
    From the never - ending fright of need,
    And to give my daughters gentle breeding,
    And a sense of security in life.
    But, you ...

Edgar Lee Masters