Edgar Lee Masters

Jan 27, 2024 | poets.org | John Donne |Henry David Thoreau |Edgar Lee Masters

Skip to main contentFind and share the perfect poems. I scarce believe my love to be so pure    As I had thought it was,    Because it doth endure Vicissitude, and season, as the grasse; Methinks I lied all winter, when I swore, My love was infinite, if spring make’it more.

Aug 23, 2023 | poetryfoundation.org | Edgar Lee Masters

Ye aspiring ones, listen to the story of the unknown Who lies here with no stone to mark the place. As a boy reckless and wanton, Wandering with gun in hand through the forest Near the mansion of Aaron Hatfield, I shot a hawk perched on the top Of a dead tree. He fell with guttural cry At my feet, his wing broken. Then I put him in a cage Where he lived many days cawing angrily at me When I offered him food.

Mar 18, 2023 | 3quarksdaily.com | Edgar Lee Masters |Jim Culleny

Sexsmith the DentistDo you think that odes and sermons, And ringing of church bells, And the blood of old men and young men, Martyred for the truth they saw With eyes made bright by faith in God, Accomplished the world's great reformations? Do you think that the Battle Hymn of the Republic Would have been heard if the chattel slave Had crowned the dominant dollar, In spite of Whitney's cotton gin, And steam and rolling mills and iron And telegraphs and white free labor?

Mar 17, 2023 | 3quarksdaily.com | Edgar Lee Masters |Jim Culleny

Griffy the CooperThe cooper should know about tubs. But I learned about life as well, And you who loiter around these graves Think you know life. You think your eye sweeps about a wide horizon ,...... perhaps, In truth you are only looking around the interior ....... of your tub. You cannot lift yourself to its rim And see the outer world of things, And at the same time see yourself. You are submerged in the tub of yourself - Taboos and rules and appearances, And the staves of your tub.