11 Must-Read Edgar Lee Masters Poems

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet who is best remembered for his Spoon River Anthology. This collection of poems is all based on the same premise. It provides readers with epitaphs, describing the lives and deeds of residents of a fictional town called Spoon River. He is also the author of essays, twenty-one collections of poetry, six novels, and several biographies.

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Anne Rutledge

‘Anne Rutledge’ by Edgar Lee Masters is an epitaph based on the life of someone who knew and loved Abraham Lincoln in her youth.

A great Masters poem but not one of the poet's best.

Out of me unworthy and unknown

The vibrations of deathless music;

“With malice toward none, with charity for all.”

Out of me the forgiveness of millions toward millions,

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Fiddler Jones

Masters’ ‘Fiddler Jones’ highlights how following one’s passion, no matter what it is, is always worthwhile and helps lead a life without any regrets. As the title says, this poem is about a wayward fiddler devoted to his passion.

Edgar Lee Masters was a poet, lawyer, and dramatist best known for his work Spoon River Anthology. This collection of free-verse poems presents the epitaphs of fictional characters from the town of Spoon River. Masters’s poetry often explores the lives and struggles of ordinary people, offering a deep insight into their personal experiences and societal issues.

Where is Old Fiddler Jones

Who played with life all his ninety years,

Braving the sleet with bared breast,

Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin,

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Archibald Higbie

Masters’ ‘Archibald Higbie,’ part of ‘Spoon River Anthology,’ laments artistic defeat, blaming it on ordinary roots, reflecting deep regret.

I loathed you, Spoon River. I tried to rise above you,

I was ashamed of you. I despised you

As the place of my nativity.

And there in Rome, among the artists,

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Carl Hamblin

Carl Hamblin critiques justice through allegory, depicting a corrupted Lady Justice blinded by wealth and influence.

The press of the Spoon River Clarion was wrecked,

And I was tarred and feathered,

For publishing this on the day the Anarchists were hanged in Chicago:

"I saw a beautiful woman with bandaged eyes

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Conrad Siever

‘Conrad Siever’ by Masters contrasts autumn’s decay with a vibrant apple tree, symbolizing life’s cycle and resilience amidst change.

Not in that wasted garden

Where bodies are drawn into grass

That feeds no flocks, and into evergreens

That bear no fruit —

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Fletcher McGee

‘Fletcher McGee’ by Edgar Lee Masters is a skilled example of confessional poetry. The poem is written as an epitaph for Mr. Fletcher McGee.

She took my strength by minutes,

She took my life by hours,

She drained me like a fevered moon

That saps the spinning world.

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Inexorable Deities

‘Inexorable Deities’ is made up of one speaker’s wish to be given the power to look on the beauty of the world without shying away.

Deities!

Inexorable revealers,

Give me strength to endure

The gifts of the Muses,

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Minerva Jones

In ‘Minerva Jones’ by Masters, Minerva, ridiculed for her appearance, endures tragedy. Her final wish is for her poetry to live on.

I thirsted so for love

I hungered so for life!

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Petit, the Poet

Masters’ ‘Petit, the Poet’ sets the conventions of traditional poetry against a deep-seated yearning for unbridled creative expression.

SEEDS in a dry pod, tick, tick, tick,

Tick, tick, tick, like mites in a quarrel—

Faint iambics that the full breeze wakens—

But the pine tree makes a symphony thereof.

#10

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The Circuit Judge

Edgar Lee Masters’ ‘The Circuit Judge’ explores feelings of sorrow and isolation, dwelling on terrible choices in the past.

Take note, passers-by, of the sharp erosions

Eaten in my head-stone by the wind and rain i

Almost as if an intangible Nemesis or hatred

Were marking scores against me,

#11

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The Hill

‘The Hill’ by Edgar Lee Masters describes the lives and deaths of some of the residents of Spoon River—the community that features in much of his verse.

Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley,

The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?

All, all are sleeping on the hill.

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11 Must-Read Edgar Lee Masters Poems

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