Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist best known for his groundbreaking work, Spoon River Anthology (1915). This collection of linked free-verse poems, presented as epitaphs from the residents of a fictional graveyard, offered a candid and often unflinching look at small-town American life. Masters's innovative use of free verse and its frank portrayal of human nature significantly influenced subsequent American poetry.