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bookishgoblin's review against another edition
4.0
This was an excellent collection, it was dark, humorous, and generally enjoyable. I really loved it, it's a must read for any lovers of poetry or American Lit (It's like the most American thing I've read since Gatsby)
hg26's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
4.0
asimilarkite's review against another edition
4.0
I remember when I read this book in high school, my 10th grade class all got a chance to write our own epitaphs. I'll remember this book for that experience -- I also loved how bittersweet and different it is.
dotorsojak's review against another edition
3.0
This is reputedly one of the great classics of American poetry and it's pretty good. My 3 star rating is based on the book's reputation, which is to say I'm holding it to a higher standard than I might do if it were not so famous. The book is a collection of about 240 verse portraits of people buried on the "hill," a fictional cemetery, modeled on Oak Hill Cemetery outside Lewistown, IL. Indeed, if you go to Lewistown, you can get a brochure and walking tour that identifies some of the gravestones of some characters from SRA. Oak Hill Cemetery is about three miles from the nearest bend of the actual Spoon River. The book is a little like Sherwood Anderson's WINESBURG OHIO, though obviously Anderson's book is prose fiction and came later. I wonder if Anderson was consciously modeling on SRA. Some similarities to Edwin Arlington Robinson too. Anyhow, there's some great stuff here, though also a good bit of lumbering, self conscious verse as well. Masters was clearly an admirer of Walt Whitman (one of his characters, Petit the Poet, exclaims: "Tick, tick, tick, what little iambics, / While Homer and Whitman roared in the pines?"), and there are lots of other writers mentioned. Masters was well read and he seems especially entranced by ancient Greek writers. Anyhow, here are some of my favorites: "Pauline Barrett" (a wife who maybe commits suicide after a long period recovery from surgery), "Sarah Brown" (about a woman who unrepentantly committed adultery and even in death claims love for both men), "Batterton Dobyns" (about a man who is jealous of his wife's easy and prosperous life after he worked himself to death), "Amelia Garrick" (a woman is sure that she "vanquished" the spirit of another woman--implied lesbianism here?), "Ippolit Konovaloff" (about a philosophizing gunsmith, originally from the Ukraine), "Widow McFarlane" (a weaver of carpets who compares village life to a loom measuring out each denizen's short time on earth), "Petit the Poet" (mentioned above), and "The Circuit Judge," (who realizes his own guilt even though he sentenced men to be hanged).
digs's review against another edition
4.0
Sanford Meisner used this book in his acting classes to encourage students to slowly develop a voice. As someone who does not read a ton of poetry, I might not be the right person to comment on this but I really liked the rather unique idea of individual voices trying to sum up their lives from the grave. It is an interesting exercise in minimalism and it often comes through.
The shared characteristics of these voices are also worth exploring. Many of them only speak about their relationships, and some of them speak in abstracts and ideals, their memories come in broken up segments. The spirits are somehow just as you imagined they would be.
The shared characteristics of these voices are also worth exploring. Many of them only speak about their relationships, and some of them speak in abstracts and ideals, their memories come in broken up segments. The spirits are somehow just as you imagined they would be.
storykotori's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Alcoholism, and Death
Minor: Rape, Child death, and Suicide
lilith_knight's review against another edition
dnf @22%
an interesting concept but it just wasn't for me
an interesting concept but it just wasn't for me
magnetgrrl's review against another edition
3.0
I read this in high school and liked it a lot then, but I feel I've outgrown it somehow now. However, I can barely remember anything except about the poems except the concept of the collection, so perhaps it's near time for a re-read.