Question

Does it fast plzzzzzzzz. Read the two poems from Edgar Lee Masters' "Spoon River Anthology" and respond to ONE of the the prompts that follow. Your response should be 4-5 sentences. Doc Hill II went up and down the streets Here and there by day and night, Through all hours of the night caring for the poor who were sick. Do you know why? My wife hated me, my son went to the dogs. And I turned to the people and poured out my love to them. Sweet it was to see the crowds about the lawns on the day of my funeral, And hear them murmur their love and sorrow. But oh, dear God, my soul trembled -- scarcely able To hold to the railing of the new life When I saw Em Stanton behind the oak tree At the grave, Hiding herself, and her grief! Ollie M'Gee Have you seen walking through the village A Man with downcast eyes and haggard face? That is my husband who, by secret cruelty Never to be told, robbed me of my youth and my beauty; Till at last, wrinkled and with yellow teeth, And with broken pride and shameful humility, I sank into the grave. But what think you gnaws at my husband's heart? The face of what I was, the face of what he made me! These are driving him to the place where I lie. Option 1: How does seeing this marriage from two points of view affect your opinion of the characters? Use textual evidence in your response. Option 2: Describe what you perceive this man and woman's marriage to be, using evidence from the text. Make inferences based on the limited information given. Option 3: Who do you think Em Stanton is, in the lives of the characters in these poems? Use evidence from the text in your analysis.

Answer 1

Spoon River Anthology is a series of poems in free verse. In most of the poems, a deceased native of the fictional town of Spoon River delivers a monologue about his or her life or a specific incident in his or her life. These monologues are, in effect, epitaphs.