Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

‘Spoon River America’: Jason Stacy on the Myth of the Small Town

By Glynn Young 1 Comment

winding stream in forest

Jason Stacy connects ‘Spoon River’ to American self-understanding

Reading a book of literary and cultural criticism about a favorite poetry collection led me to understand something about the community I live in.

Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950) was published in 1915; it has the distinction of being one of the few poetry collections that have never been out of print. Its 212 characters tell the stories of their lives in the fictitious town of Spoon River in 244 poems. Many of the poems were first published by Reedy’s Mirror, a weekly literary journal published in St. Louis under editor William Marion Reedy.

What was unusual about the collection was how Masters developed and depicted the people of an American Midwest small town. Saints co-existed with sinners; sometimes, saints were sinners and vice versa. The poems read like tombstone epitaphs, as if summing up the life of each Spoon River resident.

The collection was enormously influential, not only in literary and popular culture but also in creating a myth of the small town. In Spoon River America: Edgar Lee Masters and the Myth of the American Small Town, Jason Stacy persuasively argues that the fictional town of Spoon River supplanted the idea of the New England village in the American mind, that it framed how we understand small-town life and how we Americans understand ourselves.

Stacy examines Spoon River Anthology from several perspectives—the biographical perspective of the life of its author, the literary impact it made, its popular and critical reception, and, despite the huge changes in American life and culture since World War II, the collection’s lasting influence.

From the beginning, the collection was recognized as important. Stacy notes that, even before Masters had a contract to publish the collection as a book, word had reached New York and beyond about the poems in Reedy’s Mirror. A British critic went so far as to compare Masters favorably with Walt Whitman.

The collection’s influence has been remarkable. Disneyland’s Main Street USA. Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver. Footloose and Breaking Away. Back to the Future (all three parts). A Prairie Home Companion. It’s a Wonderful Life. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis. Twin Peaks. Fargo. (And while Stacy doesn’t specifically mention it, you can add the Netflix series Virgin River to the list.) All of these, and many others, owe a debt to Spoon River Anthology and testify to its impact.

Jason Stacy

Stacy is a professor of history and social science pedagogy at Southern Illinois University (SIU) Edwardsville. He received his B.S. and M.A. from SIU Carbondale, a Master Degree of Liberal Arts from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago. He’s published several books and numerous journal articles on American history and Walt Whitman. This exploration of Spoon River Anthology and its influence is a substantive contribution to the study of Masters, the poetry collection, and American history.

Even my own suburb of St. Louis understands itself (usually unknowingly) in the context of Spoon River Anthology. Founded in 1853, the oldest of the incorporated suburbs of St. Louis, Kirkwood has a still-functioning train station, 24 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a main street (Argonne Drive) which at one time was actually called Main Street, memorials to war dead, a city hall, and our own police and fire departments. More significant is how residents see themselves and the community. As a friend once described it, Kirkwood is less a small town of 27,000 people than it is a civic religion.

And the religion is the mythical small Midwestern town described in the poems of Spoon River Anthology.

Related

Q&A with Jason Stacy – University of Illinois Press

How the Once Banned Spoon River Anthology Made a Comeback in Lewiston

Reading Spoon River Anthology for the Third Time

Photo by Serge Saint, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young.

Browse more book reviews

How to Read a Poem by Tania Runyan

5 star

Buy How to Read a Poem Now!

How to Read a Poem uses images like the mouse, the hive, the switch (from the Billy Collins poem)—to guide readers into new ways of understanding poems. Anthology included.

“I require all our incoming poetry students—in the MFA I direct—to buy and read this book.”

—Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Glynn Young
Follow Glynn
Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
Follow Glynn
Latest posts by Glynn Young (see all)
  • Poets and Poems: Yvor Winters and “Selected Poems” - September 19, 2023
  • “The Battle of Maldon” by J.R.R Tolkien, Edited by Peter Grybauskas - September 12, 2023
  • Poets and Poems: Stephen Cushman and “Keep the Feast” - September 5, 2023

Filed Under: Americana Poems, article, book reviews, Books, poetry, Poets

Get Every Day Poems...

Comments

  1. L.L. Barkat says

    September 7, 2021 at 2:38 pm

    Poetry as influence. Amazing story. 🙂

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For the Writer in You

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our September Menu.

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

Your Comments

  • Bethany on Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person
  • Megan Wheeler on Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person
  • Bethany R. on Poetry Club: Coffee Shop Collage—”Do the Shells Still Hear”
  • Bethany R. on Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person

Join the Year of the Monarch

How to Write Poetry

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Annual Theme 2022: Perspective
  • • Annual Theme 2021: Generous
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2023 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy

We serve poetry with our cookies. Because that's the way it should be.
We serve poetry with your cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you... accept the cookies with a smile.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
update cookie prefs

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT