Spoon River Anthology: Lies and Epitaphs

Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology published in 1915 is a collection of more than two hundred poems, written in the form of post-mortem autobiographical epitaphs of ordinary residents of a fictional small American town called Spoon River in Illinois. Each poem is titled with the name of a long deceased resident whose unheard yet striking story is explicitly or implicitly displayed with meticulous use of language and imagery. Along with the universal themes and its call to action for a less hostile and more embracing world, the anthology serves as a fruitful source for translation, literary study, and stylistic and discourse analysis. The primary purpose of this paper is to introduce Spoon River Anthology to practitioners of related fields and help them enhance their teaching process.