Edgar Lee Mathers Research Essay

Edgar Lee Masters' Research Essay:

Living Life to the Fullest

Edgar Lee Masters wrote many poems which all evolved around the same theme, "How are people living and fulfilling their lives?", which I believe to be a very important theme. People should care about this topic because of the way it makes them think. Once they have read these poems they will wonder what others will say about them when they're gone. Will it be negative or positive things they say? This may cause themselves to live their life in a way where people would have nothing else to say but positive things. Spoon River teaches readers that not all people live their life to the fullest, and that some people create vision statements of how they will live their life.

In Spoon River the deceased inhabitants are freed by death to tell their stories without the fear of consequences. Richard Bone returns to discuss his past life and how he chiseled tombstones. He really never knew the truth of the words he was carving. He just did what he was told in ignorance of the truth (Masters 852). Bone does not know how these people are able to talk about the deceased in such a kind way just because they're dead, when in reality that is not true at all. Weldy, another of Spoon River's past inhabitants, discusses a day at work he will never forget. Weldy believes that he has a friend or acquaintance he trusts until this day, the day of the explosion. He realizes he never actually knew that person for they won't even compensate him for his injuries. The last of the characters freed to tell their life story is Mrs. George Reece. Reece was left by her husband to raise their children alone due to a wrongful imprisonment. She then says at the end how one day the favor will be repaid for doing right and what she knew she was suppose to do, which was not give up on her children and send them into the world clean and well.

Do people have visions of how they believe they will live their life? I feel like Masters would like to know. We've already seen that he wants to know how people live their life and what motivates them to live their life to the fullest. I recently read a periodical by Carolyn Elman where she discusses that she wishes she would've had a vision of how she would have lived her life. If she would have had a vision, she would've chosen to do the complete opposite when it comes to living life. "I would have talked less and listened more. I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains. I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I wasn't there for the day" (Elman). This right here shows that Elman regrets the way she chose to live her life. I'm sure there are many others in the world who regret the path they have chosen to