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Edgar Lee Masters

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Also known as Lee Masters

American writer (1868–1950)

Person · Open Library

Born
1868
Died
1950
Works
81

Top works

  • A book of verses
  • Mitch Miller
  • The living thoughts of Emerson
  • Prentice Hall Literature -- Gold
  • Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
270
Total plays
4,774

Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868–March 5, 1950) was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology, The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsa

via Last.fm · Edgar Lee Masters

Quotes

  • In my Spanish cloak,And old slouch hat,And overshoes of felt,And Tyke, my faithful dog,And my knotted hickory cane,I slipped about with a bull's-eye lanternFrom door to door on the square
  • Blind as I was, I tried to get outAs the carriage fell in the ditch,And was caught in the wheels and killed.
  • Go by reverently, and read with sober careHow a great people, riding with defiant shoutsThe centaur of Revolution,Spurred and whipped to frenzy,Shook with terror, seeing the mist of the seaOver the precipice they were nearing,And fell from his back in precipitate aweTo celebrate the Feast of the Supreme Being.
  • And when you are poor and have to carryThe Christian creed and wife and childrenAll on your back, it is too much!That's why I made the Elixir of Youth,Which landed me in the jail at PeoriaBranded a swindler and a crookBy the upright Federal Judge!
  • You may think, passer-by, that FateIs a pit-fall outside of yourself,Around which you may walk by the use of foresightAnd wisdom.
  • In time you shall see Fate approach you In the shape of your own image in the mirror; Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth, And suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest, And you shall know that guest, And read the authentic message of his eyes.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Born
( 1868-08-23 ) August 23, 1868, Garnett, Kansas , U.S.
Died
March 5, 1950 (1950-03-05) (aged 81), Melrose Park, Pennsylvania , U.S.
Resting place
Oakland cemetery, Petersburg, Illinois
Occupation
Poet biographer lawyer
Language
English
Notable awards
Robert Frost Medal (1942)

via Wikipedia infobox

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology (1915), The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness, An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman.

Life and career

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Edgar Lee Masters” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.