Spoon River Anthology
Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology, originally published in a serialized version in 1914-15, was an immediate commercial success when it was published in 1915. In the Anthology, the dead in a fictional, small town, Illinois graveyard relay, in matter-of-fact but haunting tones, details from their lives through a collection of 246 epitaphs. A full understanding of Spoon River requires the reader to piece together narratives from fragments contained in individual poems.
Unconventional in both style and content, it shattered the myths of small town American life. Its literary significance has been compared with Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass [published in 1855].
Masters wove a thread of partial reality throughout the Anthology. Many of the characters and their experiences can be identified with former residents of Lewistown and Petersburg, Illinois. Masters' used his childhood experiences in these two communities, as a basis for the poems.
Unconventional in both style and content, it shattered the myths of small town American life. Its literary significance has been compared with Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass [published in 1855].
Masters wove a thread of partial reality throughout the Anthology. Many of the characters and their experiences can be identified with former residents of Lewistown and Petersburg, Illinois. Masters' used his childhood experiences in these two communities, as a basis for the poems.
Poetry Circle
Task: To select a poem from Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology, complete analysis of the poem, and present it in a Poetry Circle reading with a suitable introduction.
Step 1 – Select a Poem
Visit http://www.bartleby.com/84/index1.html for a complete listing of the poems in Masters’ anthology. Select one poem from your “range” that we have not read in class. You may read many; select just one. Choose a character you find interesting.
Step 1 – Select a Poem
Visit http://www.bartleby.com/84/index1.html for a complete listing of the poems in Masters’ anthology. Select one poem from your “range” that we have not read in class. You may read many; select just one. Choose a character you find interesting.
Period 5
Payton – 1 “Hod Put”t to 10 “Chase Henry” Savannah – 11 “Harry Carey Goodhue” to 19 “Daisy Fraser” Sunnie – 20 “Benjamin Fraser” to 28 Frank Drummer” Daphne - 29 “Hare Drummer” to 37 “Johnnie Sayre” Gracie – 38 “Charlie French” to 46 “Harold Arnett” Carter – 47 "Margaret Fuller Slack” to 55 “Lucius Atherton” Faith - 56 “Homer Clapp” to 65 “George Gray” Marion – 65 “Hon. Henry Bennett” to 73 “The Circuit Judge” Nate - 74 “Blind Jack” to 83 “Russian Sonia” Maleah – 84 “Isa Nutter” to 93 “Jefferson Howard” Noah – 94 “Judge Selah Lively” to 102 “Daniel M'Cumber” Lily - 103 “George Sand Miner” to 111 Ernest Hyde” Matt – 112 “Roger Heston” to 121 “The Unknown” Addie – 122 “Alexander Throckmorton” to 136 “Mrs. Purkapile” Patrick – 137 “Josiah Tompkins” to 139 “Harmon Whitney” Cidney - 140 “Bert Kessler” to 148 “Roy Butler” Eli – 149 “Searcy Foote” to 157 “Oaks Tutt” Hailey – 158 “Elliott Hawkins” to 166 “Richard Bone” Elyse – 167 “Silas Dement” to 175 “Henry C. Calhoun” Hannah – 176 “Alfred Moir” to 184 “Elizabeth Childers” Alfonso – 185 “Edith Conant” to 193 “Henry Phipps” Summer – 194 “Harry Wilmans” to 202 “Mabel Osborne” Tam – 204 “Rebecca Wasson” to 212 “Wallace Ferguson” Paris – 213 “Samuel Gardner” to 221 “J. Milton Miles” Trey – 222 “Faith Matheny” to 230 “Zipha Marsh” Zane – 231 “Le Roy Goldman” to 239 “Judson Stoddard Kayla - 240“Russell Kincaid to 245 “The Spoonaid” |
Period 6
Luke – 1 “Hod Put”t to 10 “Chase Henry” Hannah – 11 “Harry Carey Goodhue” to 20 “Benjamin Fraser” Sofia– 21 “Minerva Jones” to 30 Conrad Siever” Kylie - 31 “Doc Hill” to 40 “Theodore the Poet” Alayna – 41 “The Town Marshall” to 50 “'Ace' Shaw” Sarah E. – 51 "Lois Spears” to 60 “Fiddler Jones” Zoe - 61 “Nellie Clark” to 70 “Dora Williams” Stephen – 71 “Mrs. Williams” to 80 “Francis Turner” Madison - 81 “Franklin Jones” to 90 “Rev. Lemuel Wiley” Mackenzie – 91 “Thomas Ross, Jr.” to 100 “Paul McNeely” Nolan – 101 “Mary McNeely” to 110 “Hamilton Greene” Andie - 111 “Ernest Hyde” to 120 "John Cabanis” Sarah J.– 121 “The Unknow” to 130 “Professor Newcomer” Aiden – 131 “Ralph Rhodes” to 140 “Bert Kessler” Ahzam – 141 “Lambert Hutchins” to 150 “Edmund Pollard” Bryan - 151 “Thomas Trevelyan” to 160 “English Thornton” Luis – 161 “Enoch Dunlap” to 170 “E.C. Culbertson” Amelia – 171 “Shack Dye” to 180 “Archibald Higbie” Isabelle – 181 “Tom Merritt” to 190 “Henry Layton” Kaylee – 191 “Harlan Sewall” to 200 “Anne Rutledge” Kameron – 201 “Hamlet Micure” to 210 “Jennie M'Grew” Christian– 211 “Columbus Cheney” to 220 “Mabel Osborne” Promise – 221 “J. Milton Miles” to 230 “Zilpha Marsh” |
Step 2 – Get to Know Your Character
Read the poem several times to get to know your character. What do you learn about the character through the poem? Who was he or she? How did the person die? How did he or she live? What is the person's attitude toward or philosophy of life? Of death? What makes the character memorable?
Investigate connections to other characters. If the name of another character appears in your poem, read that character's poem as well.
Complete a Positive Profile and Character Analysis for your character.
Step 3 – Prepare a Poetry Circle Reading of the Poem
Compose a brief introduction to your reading. Like other speech introductions, start with a question, statement, or connection to the poem's character, his or her life, or philosophy. Then introduce your poem by stating the title of the poem and the author.
Living a full and rewarding life takes work, something the younger generation
may not understand. One lady from Spoon River shows us that it “takes life
to love Life” in “Lucinda Matlock” by Edgar Lee Masters.
Practice reading the poem until you can deliver it smoothly, naturally, and with feeling. Try to deliver the poem as if you were the character, the person from the epitaph. Try to convey the attitude and tone of the character who is speaking. While the poem does not need to be memorized, you should be very familiar with the text.
Combine your introduction (you) with the poem (character) into one presentation.
Use the rubric as your guide. You must turn in the rubric when you make your presentation.
Read the poem several times to get to know your character. What do you learn about the character through the poem? Who was he or she? How did the person die? How did he or she live? What is the person's attitude toward or philosophy of life? Of death? What makes the character memorable?
Investigate connections to other characters. If the name of another character appears in your poem, read that character's poem as well.
Complete a Positive Profile and Character Analysis for your character.
Step 3 – Prepare a Poetry Circle Reading of the Poem
Compose a brief introduction to your reading. Like other speech introductions, start with a question, statement, or connection to the poem's character, his or her life, or philosophy. Then introduce your poem by stating the title of the poem and the author.
Living a full and rewarding life takes work, something the younger generation
may not understand. One lady from Spoon River shows us that it “takes life
to love Life” in “Lucinda Matlock” by Edgar Lee Masters.
Practice reading the poem until you can deliver it smoothly, naturally, and with feeling. Try to deliver the poem as if you were the character, the person from the epitaph. Try to convey the attitude and tone of the character who is speaking. While the poem does not need to be memorized, you should be very familiar with the text.
Combine your introduction (you) with the poem (character) into one presentation.
Use the rubric as your guide. You must turn in the rubric when you make your presentation.
Culminating Assessment
As a culminating assessment, write a synthesis of your understanding based on all the poems. Respond to two of these questions in a constructed response format.
• What was life like in a Midwestern town in the early twentieth century?
• What themes are still relevant today?
does this mean? Was he successful?
Restate the question by turning it into a statement and including you claim.
Give examples and evidence from the both the poems we've studied and poems shared in the Poetry Circle. Introduce your evidence by referring to the text. In "Lucinda Matlock" . . . Masters states . . .
Explain how your evidence supports your answer. This example shows that . . . Masters means . . .
• What was life like in a Midwestern town in the early twentieth century?
• What themes are still relevant today?
- What makes these characters truly American?
does this mean? Was he successful?
Restate the question by turning it into a statement and including you claim.
Give examples and evidence from the both the poems we've studied and poems shared in the Poetry Circle. Introduce your evidence by referring to the text. In "Lucinda Matlock" . . . Masters states . . .
Explain how your evidence supports your answer. This example shows that . . . Masters means . . .