Spoon River Anthology Read Online

Spoon River Anthology

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Introduction

THE HILL*

HOD PUTT*

OLLIE MCGEE

FLETCHER MCGEE

ROBERT FULTON TANNER

CASSIUS HUEFFER

SEREPTA MASON*

AMANDA BARKER

CONSTANCE HATELY

CHASE HENRY

HARRY CAREY GOODHUE

JUDGE SOMERS

KINSEY KEENE

BENJAMIN PANTIER

MRS. BENJAMIN PANTIER

REUBEN PANTIER

EMILY SPARKS

TRAINOR, THE DRUGGIST

DAISY FRASER

BENJAMIN FRASER

MINERVA JONES

“INDIGNATION” JONES

DOCTOR MEYERS

MRS. MEYERS*

"BUTCH” WELDY

KNOWLT HOHEIMER

LYDIA PUCKETT

FRANK DRUMMER

HARE DRUMMER

CONRAD SIEVER

DOC HILL

ANDY THE NIGHT-WATCH

SARAH BROWN

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

FLOSSIE CABANIS

JULIA MILLER

JOHNNIE SAYRE

CHARLIE FRENCH

ZENAS WITT

THEODORE THE POET*

THE TOWN MARSHAL

JACK MCGUIRE

DORCAS GUSTINE

NICHOLAS BINDLE

JACOB GOODPASTURE

HAROLD ARNETT

MARGARET FULLER SLACK

GEORGE TRIMBLE

DR. SIEGRFIED ISEMAN

“ACE” SHAW*

LOIS SPEARS

JUSTICE ARNETT

WILLARD FLUKE

ANER CLUTE

LUCIUS ATHERTON

HOMER CLAPP

DEACON TAYLOR

SAM HOOKEY

COONEY POTTER

FIDDLER JONES

NELLIE CLARK

LOUISE SMITH

HERBERT MARSHALL

GEORGE GRAY

HON. HENRY BENNETT

GRIFFY THE COOPER

SERSMITH THE DENTIST

A. D. BLOOD

ROBERT SOUTHEY BURKE

DORA WILLIAMS

MRS. WILLIAMS

WILLIAM AND EMILY

THE CIRCUIT JUDGE

BLIND JACK

JOHN HORACE BURLESON

NANCY KNAPP

BARRY HOLDEN

STATE’S ATTORNEY FALLAS

WENDELL P. BLOYD

FRANCIS TURNER

FRANKLIN JONES

JOHN M. CHURCH

RUSSIAN SONIA

ISA NUTTER

BARNEY HAINSFEATHER

PETIT, THE POET

PAULINE BARRETT

MRS. CHARLES BLISS

MRS. GEORGE REECE

REV. LEMUEL WILEY

THOMAS ROSS, JR.

REV. ABNER PEET

JEFFERSON HOWARD

JUDGE SELAH LIVELY

ALBERT SCHIRDING

JONAS KEENE

EUGENIA TODD

YEE BOW

WASHINGTON MCNEELY

PAUL MCNEELY

MARY MCNEELY

DANIEL M’CUMBER

GEORGINE SAND MINER

THOMAS RHODES*

IDA CHICKEN

PENNIWIT, THE ARTIST

JIM BROWN

ROBERT DAVIDSON

ELSA WERTMAN

HAMILTON GREENE

ERNEST HYDE

ROGER HESTON

AMOS SIBLEY*

MRS. SIBLEY

ADAM WEIRAUCH

EZRA BARTLETT

AMELIA GARRICK

JOHN HANCOCK OTIS

ANTHONY FINDLAY

JOHN CABANIS

THE UNKNOWN

ALEXANDER THROCKMORTON

JONATHAN SWIFT SOMERS*

WIDOW MCFARLANE

CARL HAMBLIN

EDITOR WHEDON

EUGENE CARMAN

CLARENCE FAWCETT

W. LLOYD GARRISON STANDARD

PROFESSOR NEWCOMER

RALPH RHODES

MICKEY M’GREW

ROSIE ROBERTS

OSCAR HUMMEL

ROSCOE PURKAPILE

MRS. PURKAPILE

JOSIAH TOMPKINS

MRS. KESSLER

HARMON WHITNEY

BERT KESSLER

LAMBERT HUTCHINS

LILLIAN STEWART

HORTENSE ROBBINS

BATTERTON DOBYNS

JACOB GODBEY

WALTER SIMMONS

TOM BEATTY

ROY BUTLER

SEARCY FOOTE

EDMUND POLLARD

THOMAS TREVELYAN

PERCIVAL SHARP

HIRAM SCATES

PELEG POAGUE

JEDUTHAN HAWLEY

ABEL MELVENY

OAKS TUTT

ELLIOTT HAWKINS

VOLTAIRE JOHNSON

ENGLISH THORNTON

ENOCH DUNLAP

IDA FRICKEY

SETH COMPTON

FELIX SCHMIDT

SCHRŒDER THE FISHERMAN

RICHARD BONE

SILAS DEMENT

DILLARD SISSMAN

JONATHAN HOUGHTON

E. C. CULBERTSON

SHACK DYE

HILDRUP TUBBS

HENRY TRIPP

GRANVILLE CALHOUN

HENRY C. CALHOUN

ALFRED MOIR

PERRY ZOLL

DIPPOLD THE OPTICIAN

MAGRADY GRAHAM

ARCHIBALD HIGBIE

TOM MERRITT

MRS. MERRITT

ELMER KARR

ELIZABETH CHILDERS

EDITH CONANT

CHARLES WEBSTER

FATHER MALLOY

AMI GREEN

CALVIN CAMPBELL

HENRY LAYTON

HARLAN SEWALL

IPPOLIT KONOVALOFF

HENRY PHIPPS

HARRY WILMANS

JOHN WASSON

MANY SOLDIERS

GODWIN JAMES

LYMAN KING

CAROLINE BRANSON

ANNE RUTLEDGE

HAMLET MICURE

MABEL OSBORNE

WILLIAM H. HERNDON*

REBECCA WASSON

RUTHERFORD MCDOWELL

HANNAH ARMSTRONG

LUCINDA MATLOCK

DAVIS MATLOCK

HERMAN ALTMAN

JENNIE M’GREW

COLUMBUS CHENEY

WALLACE FERGUSON

MARIE BATESON

TENNESSEE CLAFLIN SHOPE

PLYMOUTH ROCK JOE

IMANUEL EHRENHARDT*

SAMUEL GARDNER

DOW KRITT

WILLIAM JONES

WILLIAM GOODE

J. MILTON MILES

FAITH MATHENY

SCHOLFIELD HURLEY

WILLIE METCALF

WILLIE PENNINGTON

THE VILLAGE ATHEIST

JOHN BALLARD

JULIAN SCOTT

ALFONZO CHURCHILL

ZILPHA MARSH

JAMES GARBER

LYDIA HUMPHREY

LE ROY GOLDMAN

GUSTAV RICHTER

ARLO WILL

CAPTAIN ORLANDO KILLION

JEREMY CARLISLE

JOSEPH DIXON

JUDSON STODDARD

RUSSELL KINCAID

AARON HATFIELD

ISAIAH BEETHOVEN

ELIJAH BROWNING

WEBSTER FORD*

THE SPOONIAD

EPILOGUE

Explanatory Notes

SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY

EDGAR LEE MASTERS was born in 1868 in Garnett, Kansas, and grew up in the western Illinois farmlands where his grandparents had settled in the 1820s. He attended Knox College for one year, after which he relocated to Chicago. There he entered into a law partnership that eventually included Clarence Darrow. During the late 1890s, he began writing a series of essays and plays under the pseudonym Dexter Wallace. In 1915, he published his major work, the Spoon River Anthology, named after the picturesque landscape near his home. This collection was met with much acclaim and honored with several literary awards, including the Poetry Society of America Medal, the Shelley Memorial Award, and the Academy of American Poets fellowship. Masters followed up Spoon River Anthology with several other, lesser known collections of poems, namely The Great Valley (1916), Toward the Gulf (1918), Starved Rock (1919), The Open Sea (1921), The New Spoon River (1924), Selected Poems (1925), Poems of People (1936), and More People (1939).