Edgar Lee Masters

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Edgar Lee Masters SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY
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• EULOGY A speech or tribute praising someone who
  has died.
• EPIGRAMA short, witty poem a concise, clever,
  statement.
• MONOLOGUE a dramatic speech made by one person

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REALISM literal truth the representation in
art or literature of objects, actions, or social
conditions as they actually are. IRONY a
discrepency between appearance reality verbal
irony occurs when a person says one thing and
means another
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READ pp. 546-548. Note the format and purpose of
SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY. (An anthology is a
collection.)
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• characters from the same fictional town
• characters are dead, so they have nothing to
  lose in being honest
• characters discuss relationships in their
  epitaphs
• poems are meant to create realistic picture of
  small Midwestern town just before turn of the
  century, late 1800s

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Read pp. 547 and 548 Lucinda Matlock
Fiddler Jones HANDOUTS Each student gets a
different poem to read for homework. Read the
poem and figure out what kind of person this is
and what his/her life has been like.
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• CLASSWORK complete a graphic organizer for your
  poem or epitaph that outlines
• the characteristics of the speaker,
• the focus of the speakers life,
• and your personal viewpoint

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LOVING MOTHER
Sample organizer
FOCUS FAMILY COMMUNITY
FAITHFUL WIFE
FUN-LOVING
LUCINDA MATLOCK
MY VIEW RESPECT, ADMIRATION, THINK SHE WAS
A WELL BALANCED PERSON
HARD- WORKING, CARING
STRONG, CONTENT WITH LIFE
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WRITE Using your organizer, write a paragraph
describing your Spoon River resident.
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Begin by identifying the author and poem
(example) In his famous book, Spoon River
Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters includes many
monologues which are the speeches of dead
residents of the fictitious town of Spoon River.
One of these poems is called, (name your poem).

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READ about Kate Chopin, noting and reviewing
research about womens rights during this period.
Students will then follow the reading, using the
video of the story. P. 523.
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WRITE Using what you have learned about the
life of Mrs. Mallard and the irony of her heart
failure, write an epigram or poem in first
person, (like the ones in SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY)
about her.