On Spoon River Anthology

Ernest Earnest on the Popularity of Spoon River Anthology

Of course what made Spoon River Anthology immediately popular was the shock of recognition. Here for the first time in America was the whole of a society which people recognized - not only that part of it reflected in writers of the genteel tradition. Like Chaucer s pilgrims! the "## characters who speak their epitaphs represent almost e$ery walk of life--from %aisy &razer! the town prostitute! to Hortense 'o((ins! who had tra$elled e$erywhere! rented a house in Paris and entertained no(ility) or from Chase Henry! the town drunkard! to Perry *oll! the prominent scientist! or +illiam ' Herndon! the law partner of A(raham Lincoln. ,he $ariety is far too great for e$en a partial list. ,here are scoundrels! lechers! idealists! scientists! politicians! $illage doctors! atheists and (elie$ers! frustrated women and fulfilled women. ,he indi$idual epitaphs take on added meaning (ecause of often comple- interrelationships among the characters. .poon 'i$er is a community! a microcosm! not a collection of indi$iduals. from Ernest Earnest! /Spoon River 'e$isited./ Western Humanities Review "0 1023456 72-37. p. 38

Charles E. 9urgess on ,he :idwestern ;illage in Spoon River Anthology

,he midwestern $illage of se$eral thousand persons in the late nineteenth century! cannot (e compared intellectually to the mori(und rural hamlets of today! culturally anesthetized (y tele$ision! the Reader's Digest, and the outpourings of (ook clu(s. ,rue! the $illages of :asters time did know conformity! isolation! po$erty! and ignorance--and how effecti$ely he portrayed these shortcomings<--(ut a surprising num(er of $illagers li$ed acti$e! cosmopolitan li$es of tra$el and of the mind. =f they lacked continuous ur(an di$ersions and (roadening! they escaped the city s incon$eniences and petty distractions. =n the >uiet $illage milieu there was a comforting sense of ci$ilized ease that came with the transition from a rough pioneer society to a sta(le community (uttressed (y traditions. :any minds there found e-citement in following and contri(uting to the courses of science and philosophy or in ?oining the effort toward mature American literature and criticism. from Charles E. 9urgess. /:aster and .ome :entors/ 1047-"@05.

Aohn Hallwas on ,he :ythology of Spoon River

:asters recast his personal e-perience as pu(lic e-perience through the focusing and intensifying power of myth. His :idwest was a Bew +orld Eden that had degenerated under the influence of a corrupt! materialistic group that! since the time of Ale-ander Hamilton 1Aefferson s political enemy5! had not worked for the democratic ideal. He later depicted that historical process in The New World, (ut he e-pressed that mythic $iew for the first time in Spoon River Anthology. :asters created the series of epitaph-poems to clarify the American cultural dialectic that he had internalized! ?ust as &aulkner created a

myth of the .outh for the same purpose. =n the process! :asters (rought the unpoetic li$es of e$eryday Americans into poetry for the first time and used his characterizations to sym(olize his mythic $ision without realizing! of course! that it was mythic. Spoon River Anthology is! then! not only a kind of fragmented /.ong of :yself!/ it is a more pessimistic $ersion of +hitman s Democratic Vistas, focused on the triumph of the forces of disorder and decline in turn-of-thecentury America. 9ut within that account of a discordant! aimless! corrupted--and! hence! degenerated--society! the poet-hero struggles to secure the Aeffersonian $ision and to place it in poetic /urns of memory!/ as +e(ster &ord says! where it may yet inspire cultural restoration. Once :asters s purpose and perspecti$e are recognized! e$erything in the Anthology is a(sor(ed into his powerful mythic image! and the (ook has remarka(le wholeness and significance. =ndeed! Spoon River Anthology is culturally important (ecause it re$eals the inherent contradictions in the myth of America and the potentials for good and e$il that such a cultural myth contains. &irst of all! the Adamic American is an isolated! self-dependent figure who has no place in the Carden of the +orld! the social utopia that America is de$oted to esta(lishing. Hence the triumphant Eli?ah 9rowning! who creates himself in his own image as prophet-poet! achie$es that identity (y escaping from society. His Bew +orld Eden is the mountaintop! where he stands alone (efore the uni$erse! responds to /the symphony of freedom/ and achie$es transcendence. As he says! /= could not return to the slopes-- D Bay! = wished not to return./ 9ut the slopes! which represent his discarded past! are also where e$eryone else is--and where people like Aeremy Carlisle hope /to walk together D And sing in chorus and chant the dawn D Of life that is wholly life./ =n other words! the myth of America reflects an am(i$alent national spirit! with contradictory thrusts toward indi$idualism and community. from Aohn Hallwas! /=ntroduction/ to Spoon River Anthology 1pp. 3#-375.

Charles E. 9urgess on the Particular! the Current! and the Local in Spoon River Anthology
=t has (een known since the pu(lication in 0207 of Spoon River Anthology that Edgar Lee :asters drew much of its su(stance from the names! personalities! acti$ities! and e$ents of the central =llinois region where he grew to manhood. 9oth contemporary and current residents of the area ha$e recognized that the (ook! in many senses! draws on community history. .cholars ha$e agreed that matter was $ital source material of the landmark in modern American poetry. Less well realized has (een the role of communities of :asters s youth in the artistic and psychological stimulating of his e-pression. .uch stimuli did e-ist! strong enough to impel him to use the region! a >uarter of a century after he had left it! as the (ase of his most memora(le work. ,hat inter$al ga$e him the widened e-perience and the intellectual perspecti$e necessary to impart to Spoon River Anthology senses of uni$ersality of su(?ect! place! and time. Eet the

(roadening into a recogniza(le picture of many societies of many times did not diminish the functional importance of the (ook s particulars. =n the use of the specific sources lies Spoon River Anthology s $erisimilitude. ,he particulars were so strongly etched in :asters s mind and were (rought forth with such sincere e-actness in his writing that they were >uite recogniza(le to people ac>uainted with the same communities--although seen from other lights! usually! (y these persons. =n a larger sense! :asters--(y 0207 an attorney of su(stantial reputation--was dealing in ?ustice in creating Spoon River Anthology He wanted to see that due praise was gi$en to the sturdier spirits who had wrested the region from the wilderness of physical nature or who had! in later times! stood as (ulwarks against the conse>uences of corrupt or weak human nature. from Charles E. 9urgess! /:asters and .ome :entors/ p. 0@7.