Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters
Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist best known for his work "Spoon River Anthology" (1915), a collection of free-verse epitaphs spoken by the dead in a small-town cemetery. This groundbreaking work revealed the hidden lives and secrets of the inhabitants, earning Masters widespread acclaim. He also wrote biographies, including "Lincoln: The Man" (1931), which presented a controversial view of Abraham Lincoln. Masters' writing often explored themes of small-town life, death, and the human condition, blending realism with lyrical insight.

Author's Books:


The Hill   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.   One passed in a fever,  One was burned in a mine,  One was killed in a brawl,  One died in a jail,  One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife—  All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.... more...

I was born in London on the eighteenth of June, 1815. The battle of Waterloo was being fought as I entered this world. Thousands were giving up their lives at the moment that life was being bestowed upon me. My father was in that great battle. Would he ever return? My mother was but eighteen years of age. Anxiety for his safety, the exhaustion of giving me life prostrated her delicate constitution. She... more...

MITCH MILLER Mitch MillerSupposin' you was lyin' in a room and was asleep or pretty near asleep; and bein' asleep you could hear people talkin' but it didn't mean nothin' to you—just talk; and you kind of knew things was goin' on around you, but still you was way off in your sleep and belonged to yourself as a sleeper, and what was goin' on didn't make no... more...