Edgar Lee Masters

Born in Garnett, Kansas, in 1868 and raised in small-town Illinois, Edgar Lee Masters turned the people and rhythms of Midwestern life into literature. He studied briefly at Knox College, read law in his father's office, and went on to practice as an attorney in Chicago.

His lasting fame rests on Spoon River Anthology (1915), a bold collection of linked poems spoken by the dead residents of a fictional town. The book stood out for its plain speech, sharp character sketches, and honest look at ambition, regret, love, and disappointment, and it remains the work most readers associate with him.

Masters wrote many other books, including poetry, plays, novels, and biographies, but Spoon River Anthology overshadowed the rest of his career. He later received major literary honors, including awards from the Poetry Society of America and the Academy of American Poets, and he died in 1950.