Edgar Lee Masters was born in 1868 in Garnett, Kansas, and was raised in several small towns in Illinois.
He died in 1950..
Although Masters published a sequel to the book and many more works , he never succeeded in producing another volume to match his masterpiece.
The book experienced great critical and popular success, and influenced a generation of writers.
The result was Spoon River Anthology, which mixed classical and innovative forms to create a work that critics both praised and scorned for its forthrightness and originality.
Masters then began to experiment with poetic form, bringing to life the sort of people he had known in his Midwestern childhood.
By 1915 he had published four books of poetry, seven plays, and a collection of essays, but none of them had received much critical attention.
Using a variety of pseudonyms to avoid possible damage to his law practice, Masters began to publish poetry in magazines.
He long harbored literary ambitions but was trained as a lawyer, and practiced for several years in Chicago with Clarence Darrow.
Edgar Lee Masters was born in 1868 in Garnett, Kansas, and was raised in several small towns in Illinois
