Some of the following themes are common in Spoon River Anthology.   Is Edgar Lee Masters using his writing to make a statement about certain issues? On this page comment about what Masters may be saying through his characters. Include both the title of the poem and a quote to support what you say.

 

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Love and/or Marriage

Through his characters, the Pantiers, I think Edgar Lee is righting to make a statement as to how even the best of people are capable of having a bad marriage. In the poems of Benjamen Pantier and Mrs. Benjamen Pantier, they talk of both of their personalities and how different they are from eachother. In Benjamen Pantier's poem, he talks of his wife being controlling. Although, in Mrs. Benjamen Pantier's poem, she gives her side as to how she has been through so much roughness with her husband and how he just wasn't her type but she wasn't allowed to leave him due to the town's old rules about marriage.

Even Trainor, the town druggist quotes, "Two good people in a bad marriage."

Not everyone is as they seem. Marriages can seem so held together in front of people's eyes, but they're honestly mostly falling apart on the inside.

                                                                      Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

 

I feel that the story of Mrs. George Reece.  Her husband was sent to prison for something that he didn't do.  Through all that you could still tell she loved him beause she didn't stop loving or believing him even though so many people around town talked about what he did. She still showed she loved him and didn't mourn about because she knew that he wouldn't want that she lived her life by a quote from the Pope saying, "Act well your, there all the honor lies." She knew that if she lived her life for him and their children then he would have just as much honor as if he were there with her.

 

Sam N- Fife

I agree with Sam's depiction very much so. Mrs. Reece still loved her husband and stuck by him even if he wasn't physically there. Most of the people in Spoon River Anthology would have never done the same thing she did. Her love was obviously more powerful and held together than any of the other people in the book, excluding William and Emily's. Her marriage kept its bond even though it was only able to be held by threads, he love still lasted and prevailed.

Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

 

 

 I think that in the stories he has put together with marriage most seem to be the idea that marriage doesn't last or it gets lost in other lovers. An example would be the Merritts. Mrs. Merritt cheated on her husband with a 19 year old man and then one day her husband came home and her lover, Elmer, shot him. Another example is the McNeelys. Washington was happy, he sent his kids to school gave the boys money to start a business and married off his girls. Then, aweful things started to happen to his kids and he withdrew from his wife instead of confiding in her for support. Also the Sibley's. Amos's wife was cheating on him but he wouldn't divorce her because he was a minister so that would be a bad sign in the people of Spoon River's eyes.

-Kelcyn (Fife)

 

I agree with Sam and Kelcyn and Kaitlynns  there were some familys in Spoon River that had real love and yet most of the marriages seemed so rong and bad and in death one even said that marriage didn't really matter but love was eternal. There were many that all they wanted was love but they never recived it. However some love did not fall apart and was what it seemed :)I think a really good example of love would have to be William and Emily. "There is something about Death Like love itself...That is a power of unison between souls Like love itself!" (pg 33) A Happy Story among the gloom :) Kristina K. (Fifes)

 

I think that Mrs. Meyers is also an example for love. She loved her husband, Dr. Meyers, even though she knew what he did was wrong with trying to help Minerva.  She knew his heart was in the right place, just he didn't think it through all the way.  She talks about how he was a poor soul because people looked at him weird when they walked by him and the newspapers mixed things around.--Sam- Fife

 

I think that William and Emily are a good example of love. They loved each other until death. They knew passion together in their youth and as they grew older that they faded away together like it says in the poem itself.--Allison- Mrs. Woods

 

 

I believe what Kaitlynn is saying is true. Another example would be the Purkapiles. Roscoe thought he was being smoothered by her love. So he left but returned and told her a wild goose tell. Yet she took him back because "a promise is a promise" and she wasn't gonna go against her vows. That's how important marriage was to her.     Marcie~Woods

 

Although many marriges in Spoon River went bad, Emily and William's relationship was very enlightening. They were very much in lover with each other and remained in love even to their death. "You also, after years of life together, feel the sinking of the fire, and thus fade away together." This quote means that they were so much a part of each other, when one dies so did the other.

Erin Wilson - Woods

 

I think that the best example of true love and devotion was the story of William and Mary. They obviously were completely in love with each other throughout their entire lives. In reading about them, they seemed to be so happy to just have each other's love. Like Erin said, when one of them died, the other one did too in a sense, because they were so close to one another.

-Kayla Huffman-Woods

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Life/Philosophy

 

In the poem Dorcas Gustine, it talks about how people didn't like her way of life one bit. She always spoke her mind about everything she felt and the way she thought things were to her. No one in the town liked her philosophy and way of life, but she was okay with that. Dorcas was always content with herself. She didn't care what anyone else thought of her. She continued to be herself. To her, silence poisons the soul. It can eat you alive. When people don't speak their minds, they are only poisoning themselves of what they could have had. Words can be harsh, but they're better than nothing.

Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

 

In Theodore the Poet masters makes a connection between crawfish and people. "But later your vision watched for men and women hiding in burrows of fate amid great cities, looking for the souls of them to come out,…" This shows that our fate plays a role in our life no matter what. He compared the crawfish coming out of their burrows to the souls of the people for us to see.----Allison Sargent—Mrs. Woods

 

Although she was a prositute, Daisy Fraser, did a lot more for her community than most. She funded the school and gave them money. Unlike most of the other people in the town who thought they were better than her. Why should she be looked down on by the people who didn't fun the school when she did just because she did for a living

-Kasey (Fife)

 

I agree with Kaitlynn with Dorcas and in Spoon River not to stand up and belive in yourself ended up makeing many peoples lives sad. I also think that the Spoon River Anthology  has alot to tell us about small town life and Philosophy  one thing it definetly points out is how we sometimes judge in the wrong and how sometimes in life people feel that they have to be only one thing. So they become it. An example of this would be Aner Clute irronicly she never would have become what everyone put her down for being if they had not put her down in the first place. The town unrightfully judged her treating her only as good as a prostatute, which they considered her. She felt she had no choice but to become a prostatute because everyone belived she was one and made her seem to low for it. So why not become what everyone already calls you when you need work? She felt thats all she could be. "It's the way the people regard the theft of the apple That makes the boy what he is"(pg 25) I think everyone can learn from this story. *Kristina K. (Fifes)

 

Edgar Lee Masters portraited the life of Abel Melvany as a person who spent his life buying things that he never used. He then realized that he was just like all of the rusted machinary that he bought. Life never used him. "I saw myself as a good machine that Life had never used." (Quote from the Abel Melvany poem.) To me this symbolizes those who make a big stink and talk big about things they will do in their lives but never do. At the end of their lives they realize that they just wasted away. I can connect this to Lucius Atherton. He wasted his life away thinking that he was just being a great lover, and then he woke up and realized that he was alone. "Lo! a new generation of girls laughed at me, not fearing me, and Ihad no more exciting adventures wherein I was all but shot for a heartless devil..." (Quote from the Lucius Atherton poem.) Both of them didn't live realistic lives and ultimately was left empty and rusted. Sarah Chenoweth `Woods`

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Corruption

 

Corruption can come in many different forms and ways. For me, I used the poem "Nelli Clark" to describe corruption. Nellie Clark was an eight year old when she was raped by a fifteen year old boy named Charlie. Everyone in town knew about it. He had corrupted her life and made it, well, horrible. Although, later on in life she finally found someone she married who had never heard the story of what happened. He was new in town. After two years of marriage, although, he left her. He felt she wasn't a virgin like what he wanted or thought he had married.

I think that in this poem, Edgar Lee was trying to expose how small towns really can be. Word of anything can get around and everyone will know it eventually. In a small town, even today, nothing is a secret.

Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

 

In The poem "Amanda Barker" Henry got Amanda pregent even with the known fact that she could not have children.  Amanda proclaimed in the poem that he slew her the gratify his hatred i beleive that this ment that he did this act to show his hatred for her.

Jaymee Hudson - Woods

 

 

I think the best example to me of corruption is Mivervia Jones. Everyone thought that her rape by Butch Weldy was her falt so she was looked down upon by the people. They made fun of her because of her heavy body, cock-eye, and rolling walk. But to me what makes it all worse was the fact that she was raped by Butch and then died from a Doctor trying to save her from being more looked down upon by giving her an abortion. Butch currupted her life and with doing that without intending to took her life along with her innocence.

-Kelcyn (Fife)

 

I do agree with Kelcyn's choice for the most part. Minerva's life was corrupted by the way people looked down on her and many other things that have happened to her, obviously. Her life was corrupted, but I honestly don't think she herself was ever corrupted. She seemed to be a wonderful person at heart that just wanted love and attention. For most people, all they ever do want in life is love and attention. She never recieved the love, and the attention she got was far from what she wanted.

Kaitlynn Dodds - Fife

 

I think that Kelcyn was right. I didn't really get from that that Mivervia was corrupt but that the things that had happened to her in her life was corrupt I never thought about the death being on the shoulders of Butch before It is an interesting view to think about not that he meant to kill her but that she died all in all ,although she did have a choice, from a result of his actions. It is also sad that the doctor that tried to help her had so much greif wrong or not when the rapist got away sqeaky clean until an acident later on damaged him what justice is that? Kristina K. (Fife)

 

Nicholas Binde was kind of corruted because everyone wanted him to give, give, give because they thought he had the money and needed too. But when the bank went bankrupted he also went bankrupted. They still wanted him to give and so i think that because people was so greedy that when he went bankrupt they hated him because he couldnt give like before so he was looked down upon because he didn't have the money he had to donate before.

-Kasey (Fife)

 

 

I think i would have to agree with Kelcyn on her perspective of Minerva. Butch did corrupt her life when he raped her. You are always going to have to live with those memories and she also ended up getting pregnant from him and that definitely corrupted her life.

-Tori (Fife)

 

Another example of corruption would have to be Deacon Taylor and John M. Church. The Deacon Taylor was loved by many and supposedly hated drinking after all he had been threw in his life but the whole time he was really sneaking beer behind everyone who loved him so much, the alcohol free man he was, backs. Even more corrupt then that would be the lawyer John M. Church! He  even admitted, "I pulled the wires with judge and jury.And the upper courts, to beat the claims Of the crippled, the widow and orphan,"(pg 38-39) He unjustly cheated and wronged those who needed him most who needed a hand. The "crippled" and the "widow"s just so he could gain a little extra cash and yet all the people of Spoon River loved him a corrupt rat as he was. Kristina K.(Fife)

 

I think that another good example of corruption is Minevera Jones.  She was captured and raped by Butch Weldy, and tried to have an abortion.  I think that if I was in her place I feel would feel exteremly corrupted, knowing that the baby I was carrying was from a guy who raped me.  She was already was a heavy set persin and everyone looked at her, but she had a pretty decent life until that.  When she had her abortion is when she died, Dr. Meyers just couldn't handle it and she bleed to death.  " And all more when Butch Weldy captured me after a brutal hunt. He left me to my fate with Dr. Meyers." --Sam- Fife 

 

There is a lot of corruption in this book. Nellie Clark was raped when she was only eight years old. If that is no crooupt then I do not know what is. After she was raped the people of the town were not very sympathetic, they just saw her as impure.

Erin Wilson - Woods

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Politics

The Town Marshall is a good example of polotics in the book. Once he became a Christian man and gave up drinking, he was elected the Town Marshall. He was against all drinkers and the town agreed very much so to that sense of morality. Before he had become a Christian man, he had killed a man. This made him apear to be an even better person for the job he was given! One night, he struck a drunk man with his loaded cane and called him a good for nothing drunk. He was shot due to this. Although, the man who shot him never recieved death, but only 14 years in jail.

I think this is really pointing out the injustice that there is in the law. Every day people are let go for things that they should be locked up the rest of their life for. All a person has to do is find a loop hole and a way to black mail a person and kick everything back in their face.

Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

 

I agree and disagree many do turn there heads even to a guilty murder  like this on. However at the same time although he did kill the Town Marshall and was guilty it might have been a hard case the Marshall approched a drunk man thats only offense was drinking and beat him against the head with a loaded cane. What did he expect to happen the drunk to hug him? Kristina K. (Fife)

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Religion

In the poem "The Town Marshall", the Town Marshall talks about how religion changed him as far as he stopped drinking and it made him purer of the soul. The town elected him Town Marshall due to him having been a past drunk but that he was also a Christian man. The church and his religion helped him to stop drinking and "become a better person." I think that this is pointing out that religion can change a person, but it wont change all of them. They'll become better people. They wont sin as much and so on, but their personalities will always stay the same. 

Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

I agree and disagree with Kaitlynn I think people can make changes but many ride on the fact that they have supposedly changed into a better person. Kristina K. ( Fifes)

 

Rev. Lemuel Wiley praises himself for the number of sermans he preached, how many revivals he conducted, and how many of those who he baptized. No where does he give glory to the Lord. He only gives himself credit for saving the Blisses from divorce. He should know that no man has the power to do things on their own. With him being a reverend, he is a vessel of the Lord. "Look how I saved the Blisses from divorce..."  Sarah Chenoweth `Woods

 

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Hypocrisy and/or Intolerance

 

Hypocrisy...Definately what was involved with Deacon Taylor. Deacon belonged to the church but also went to Trainor's drug store and drank every day in the back. I think Edgar Lee Masters was trying to pinpoint that not everyone is what they seem they are when they are out and away from everyone else. It's a common issue in the world today. It will continue to be a common issue in the world to come.

Kaitlynn Dodds-Fife

 

To me this is kind of hyocrisy but its more like lying to yourself. Deacon Taylor was part of the Prohibition movement and a Deacon is very high in a church setting, but secretly he used to slip behind the drug store partition and drank. Many people probably didn't realize that he was such an alcoholic because his high spot in the church and being part of the movement to ban drinking alcohol.

-Kelcyn (Fife)

 

I agree with Kaitlynn he was kindof a hyporcrite but no one belived it. Even at his death they blamed it on another reason he got away with being a hypocrite. Kristina K(Fife)

 

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Society's Rules and/or Moral Issues

 

Back when Edgar Lee Masters wrote these poems, Mrs. Benjamen Pantier was not "allowed" to leave her husband. Society's rules made sure of that. Morals were supposed to be abided by and they thought everyone should have the same morals as everyone else had. Therefore, Mrs. Benjamen Pantier ended up being "stuck" with her husband once she had married him. She didn't love him anymore. She didn't find any interest in him at all. she found him disgusting; but she couldn't leave him or it would be frowned upon. In the poem, she even says, "And the only man with whom the law and morality permit you to have a marital relation is the very man that fills you with disgust." People will always be disgusted by someone. Although, we now have the chance in the world to try around our love with dating to find that somone we actually want to spend our life with. Instead of just jumping straight into marriage, we have options on ways to get out.

Kaitlynn Dodds- Fife

 

I think one big moral issue would have to be Barry Holden he was so stressed out over the things in his life that when he came home and saw a hatchet sitting outside his door he killed his wife. This cold be a big moral issue because he had no reason to kill his wife.

--Allison Sargent-Mrs. Woods

 

There are many moral issues. About half of the married couples are comitting adultry, people are being raped and killed. I think this society is very unhealthy and I do not know why anyont would want to live there. Allison had a good example of Barry Holden. Another would be the Merrits and Elmer. It was wrong for Mrs. Merrit to sleep with Elmer, and Elmer definately should have not killed Mr. Merrit.

Erin Wilson - Woods

 

I agree with both Allison and Erin. It seems like Edgar Lee Masters definitely tried to incorporate a variety of moral issues when he wrote Spoon River Anthology. Allison's example of Barry Holden coming home and killing his wife out of nowhere was a good one. Also I agree with Erin in the fact that a lot of adultery is going on in the book. One example of that is the Sibley's. Amos wouldn't divorce his wife even though he knew she was cheating on him. Mrs. Purkapile also wouldn't divorce her husband because she believed that "a promise was a promise". To me, that definitely shows what her morals were.

-Kayla Huffman-Woods

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Family

 

Jacob Goodpasture's son died at Fort Sumpter. In his poem, it talks about how devestated he was over the battle having happened and killing off his son. He kills himself to heal himself of the pain. So many people died that day. His son was so important to him. Now they can finally rest together. I think this is pointing out how important family will always be to people, no matter how much they want to admit it.

Kaitlynn Dodds- Fife

 

In the poem "Johnnie Sayre" Johnnie was hurt by the train that had forced itself into his leg.  Johnnie was then carried to Widow Morris's where he then began to regret how he acted.  He prayed to live just long enough to pay an apology to his father, whom he never listened to when he was told to do or not to do something.  Johnnie wished that he had listened to his father more and he wished that he could tell his father that but he died without any closure. 

Jaymee Hudson - Woods

 

 In the Poem Barry Holden  Barry was very stress out because his sister set a fire onto his house. The people tried to say that  Dr. Duval murdered Zora Clemens. Barry had to sit in the court for weeks listening to eveybody who witnessed it. His wife kept mentioning something about a mortgaged. The boys of his  took a hatchet and looked for worms and let the hatchet on the ground and then Barry got so stressed out that his wife kept mentionin this mortgage so he took the hatchet  and when he walked through the door his wife was right their so he killed her.

                                                               Kelsy paisley -- woods

 

I think that a good example of family is Emily Sparks. She really didn't have any family but she did have the little boy she took care of that she had in school. She wanted the best for him and hoped that he succeeded in life. So just because he wasn't her son or any relation she did think of him as one.

-Kasey (Fife)

 

I think Kasey's perspective on Emily Sparks is right. I think that taking care of that young boy is very caring and curdious. And that is part of being a family. Also, considering she was the only one who had taken care of him, he probably did think of her as somewhat family oriented.

-Tori (Fife)

 

I agree with Jaymee and Kaitlynn in the end all that really mattered was family. Kristina K (Fife)

 

Mrs. George Reece did an excellent job at raising her children on her own. With the father away in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Mrs. George Reece was both the mother and the father for her children. From the poem we know that her children were raised moral, "And I did it, and sent them forth into the world all clean and strong..." Sarah Chenoweth `Woods`

 

 Washington McNeely was a rich man, and cared  alot about his family.Had his childern going to the most expensive school for the very best education. But in the end his childern either fled the country, died giving birth, killing themselves, or was divorced. His childern were a disappoint to him.  Marcie~Woods

 

Mrs. George Reece held her family together after her husband was sent to prison for something he didn't have anything to do with. She raised all of her children by herself without even a complaint. I think that because of this, she was an exceptional mother. I also agree with Jaymee about Johnnie Sayre. All he wanted to do was to live long enough after his accident to gain forgiveness from his father. That, to me, shows how much he cared about his father.

-Kayla Huffman-Woods

 

 

 

Chance

Tom Beaty and "Ace Shaw were both lawyers who also thought everything was about chances. Tom Beaty was a lawyer who realized that life was like a card game you win or lose and everything is chance. Ace Shaw gamble because he also thought everything was chance you either win or lose.

Both of these men believed that everything was a chance and that was how they lived their lives.

 chelsee lisk - woods

Standing Up for what they Believed in!

Yee Bow was just a boy who spoke out for what he believed in and what he believed in was different then what the preacher taught. The preachers son wa very much so against this and he was killed for speaking up for what he believed in.

Dorcas Gustine was a man who also spke out for what he believed in but he was not killed for it. He was however hated in the community for speaking his mind.

Both of these men spoke against the crowd stodup for what they believed in no matter what other people thought about them.

 chelsee lisk- woods

Blamed their unsuccessfull lives on kids.

Margaret Fuller Slacker was going to become a great writer but since she was a women she thought she needed to be married for people to read what she wrote. When she got married she bore a lot of children and calmed that she had no time to write due to the fact she was always taking care of her kids.

Constance Hately took care of her sisters kids when her sister died. Constance hated taking care of those kids she calmed that they ruined her life. People in the town saw her as a wonderful person because she was took care of her sisters kids eventhough she was mean to them and told them that she wished they weren't there.

Both of these ladies blamed kids for not being successful and not accomplishing things in their lives due to the fact that they had to take care of children.

chelsee lisk- woods

 

Bert Kessler

Bert Kessler had gone on a hunting trip for quial he had spotted a bird and shot it hitting it then he went to go retrive it and just when he had gotten close enough to pick up the bird in the weeds he haddent realived that a rattle snake was coiled up their. then the next thing that he knew his leg had been bitten and he was poisend by the snake so he killed the quail and then the snake killed him.

EHRGOTT--