Poetry from Edgar Lee Masters Essay Example

Poetry Explication Sometimes there is more to a person than what can be seen, and there can be something much deeper than what we know. We can reveal a lot about the characters in The Spoon River Anthology written by Edgar Lee Masters. The poems in his anthology consist of fascinating characters telling us their life stories after their death. There’s a lot to uncover about the lives of Seth Compton and Lucinda Matlock from what they tell us. Master’s brilliant style of writing shows us directly the journeys of these characters from a first person point of view. These poems give a glimpse into the lives of characters who once lived in Spoon River. With deep interpretation, we can see what their personalities were like, what they believed in, and how the poems relate to Masters himself. After reading the poems told by Seth Compton and Lucinda Matlock, it is clear what their focus is. They both tell us what they think is valuable about living. Seth can be interpreted as being an intelligent man who wants nothing more but for other minds to grow from reading literature. He can be seen as intelligent once we learn about his passion for libraries, in the story Seth writes, “When I died, the circulating library/Which I built up for Spoon River...” (Compton lines 1-2). There’s enough said to consider Seth intelligent because he loves reading so much that he even builds a library for the people of his town. We also know that he cares about the wellbeing of other citizens when he tells us, “[I] managed for the good of inquiring minds...” (Compton line 3). Seth was also the manager of this library. He built the library because he had a heart for feeding the minds of people who want to learn. This is the focus of Seth's poem; he knows that reading literature and learning are important. Lucinda Matlock also has a focus that is evident in her poem. Lucinda can be interpreted as an adventurous, loving mother who wants her children to be able to love life. We know Lucinda