April 3: "Louise Smith" & "Herbert Marshall" by Edgar Lee Masters

from Spoon River Anthology (1915)

by Edgar Lee Masters 

LOUISE SMITH

Herbert broke our engagement of eight years

When Annabelle returned to the village

From the Seminary, ah me!

If I had let my love for him alone

It might have grown into a beautiful sorrow--

Who knows?--filling my life with healing fragrance.

But I tortured it, I poisoned it,

I blinded its eyes, and it became hatred--

Deadly ivy instead of clematis. 

And my soul fell from its support, 

Its tendrils tangled in decay.

Do not let the will play gardener to your soul

Unless you are sure

It is wiser than your soul's nature.

HERBERT MARSHALL

All your sorrow, Louise, and hatred of me

Sprang from your delusion that it was wantonness

Of spirit and contempt of your soul's rights

Which made me turn to Annabelle and forsake you. 

You really grew to hate me for love of me, 

Because I was your soul's happiness,

Formed and tempered

To solve your life for you, and would not.

But you were my misery. If you had been

My happiness would I not have clung to you?

This is life's sorrow:

That one can be happy only where two are; 

And that our hearts are drawn to stars

Which want us not.

Today's two poems are from Edgar Lee Masters' 1915 poem anthology called the Spoon River Anthology. The book features free-verse epitaphs of 214 Midwestern townspeople (some based on real people, though set in a fictional town) speaking from the grave about their lives' lost hopes and dreams. 

My 12th grade AP Literature class studied at least some of the Spoon River Anthology (possibly all--I don't remember now). As a culminating project, each of us was tasked with writing our own epitaph in similar style, which we shared in class and then compiled into our own class anthology. Ours was affectionately titled: "Shut Up, Aaron, You're Dead" (an inside joke from class discussions.) I still have my copy. 

I hadn't thought much about any of this in years, but today while searching for a poem to share, I plucked my copy of Spoon River Anthology from my poetry shelf and scanned through the text. I loved the way Louise Smith's and Herbert Marshall's monologues not only act like a conversation, but also highlight how much perspective matters. 

If you're interested in reading more (or all) of the anthology, it is available for free here.