Today we celebrate the 142nd anniversary of Edgar Lee Masters' birth. Masters was a writer best known for his pithy book of poems, Spoon River Anthology describing the lives of those interred in a Midwestern cemetery. He was born in Garnett, Kansas and lived most of his life in the Midwest. His friendship with Harriet Monroe, editor of Poetry brought him into the Chicago group with Carl Sandberg and Vachel Lindsay. Though none of his other works brought him the same level of acclaim as the Spoon River Anthology, Masters continued to write thirty-nine other works including essays, novels, plays, and biographies of other famous poets.
