Inspirational Quotes by Edgar Lee Masters (American Poet, Novelist)

Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. His verse is collected most notably in the Spoon River Anthology (1915.)

Born in Garnett, Kansas, he was a successful lawyer in Chicago and shared a law practice with Clarence Darrow. Masters turned to write poetry and plays under the pseudonym Dexter Wallace, including A Book of Verses (1898) and Maximilian (1902,) but none of his early works were successful.

Masters became famous with the satirical Spoon River Anthology (1915,) a book of free-verse epitaphs and small poems about ordinary life in rural Illinois. It was an immediate commercial success and became one of the most popular books of poetry in American history. Masters gave up law and devoted himself full time to writing poetry. He published several more collections and novels and returned to his first success with The New Spoon River (1924,) attacking the new urban lifestyle.

As a whole, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels, and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman.

Across Spoon River (1936) is an autobiography. Son Hardin Wallace Masters wrote Edgar Lee Masters: A Biographical Sketchbook (1978.)

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