Hello again Readers, it’s Co-editor Gail.
Before April A.K.A. National Poetry Month ends, I wanted to do a poetry-based blog post. So, I figured that now is the perfect time to finally do that analysis of the characters from Spoon River Anthology that I played. I apologize if you are sick of hearing about this show, but I hope that actually reading some of the content might allow you to see the same extremely relevant and human qualities it has that captured my heart.
First, some background. Adapted for the Broadway stage in 1963, Spoon River Anthology was written in 1915 my Edgar Lee Masters and it is by far his most famous and successful work. It consists of 245 free-verse poems (we did not do all of them for our adaption of course!). Masters himself was criticized at the time for writing in free-verse as it was not the popular style back then.
The book is thought to be Masters writing about real people that he knew growing up and living in Lewiston Illinois. While not using any real names, Masters was able to be a bit of a gossip with this book. He called out powerful people such as wealthy businessmen about how their greed was harming the general public while also humanizing the little guy to show that everyone is much deeper and nuanced than we see on the surface regardless of age, gender or occupation.
I played a total of 6 characters, without further ado, the first one I played was Barney Hainsfeather:
Barney Hainsfeather
If the excursion train to Peoria
Had just been wrecked, I might have escaped with my life—
Certainly I should have escaped this place.
But as it was burned as well, they mistook me
For John Allen who was sent to the Hebrew Cemetery
At Chicago,
And John for me, so I lie here.
It was bad enough to run a clothing store in this town,
But to be buried here—ach!
When we were choosing what poems would be in our production, we realized that it was unfortunately going to be limited in terms of diversity. So, when our director mentioned Barney Hainsfeather, a Jewish character, I jumped at the opportunity as a Jewish person to bring that representation into our show. Despite being written by a non-Jew, Barney does feel Jewish to me. However, it was important to me not to make him feel like a stereotype either. His piece is so short, so I had to ask myself a lot of questions to get into his head. I had to think about what he had been through in his life. What was it like for a Jewish man in Illinois in 1915? How was he treated by others? How did he have to prove that he belonged? Did he often fear he could lose everything he worked all his life to earn? Why did he hate running a store in Spoon River? Was it because of anti-Semitism or did the people just not “get” him or his dry sense of humor? He thought he had fool-proof plan for his fate but ends up being one of the victims of this unfortunate mix up that literally robs him of his identity for all eternity, and he only has this one chance to speak up and claim it again at least for a moment.
Next, I played Mrs. George Reece:
Mrs. George Reece
To this generation I would say:
Memorize some bit of verse of truth or beauty.
It may serve a turn in your life.
My husband had nothing to do
With the fall of the bank—he was only cashier.
The wreck was due to the president, Thomas Rhodes,
And his vain, unscrupulous son.
Yet my husband was sent to prison,
And I was left with the children,
To feed and clothe and school them.
And I did it, and sent them forth
Into the world all clean and strong,
And all through the wisdom of Pope, the poet:
“Act well your part, there all the honor lies.”
Two of the three women I played are not given first names. At first glance, this can be seen as dehumanizing, but it can also give insight into how much of these women’s lives revolve around their husband, marriage, and family. Sometimes it is a bad situation while others are good or at least a bittersweet. I would say that Mrs. George Reece is the third option. Her husband who she does seem to love and care about gets scapegoated by his wealthy bosses (Thomas Rhodes is basically the Jeff Bezos of Spoon River) and is sent to prison. This is a situation that really could have broken a vulnerable woman like her but instead of falling apart, she manages to keep her children from going hungry and makes sure they have clothes and an education resulting in them being able to put their best foot forward as they enter young adulthood. The most incredible thing is that she claims she was able to do this because she was inspired by the words of the 18th century English poet Alexander Pope, who is most well-known for his satirical writing. This shows the power of literature to move people and motivate them even 106 years ago. As you will see in the next character, a lot of the women in Spoon River are well read. This pleasantly surprised me that a white man wrote so many complex and intelligent women.
Next up is Dorcas Gustine:
Dorcas Gustine
I was not beloved of the villagers,
But all because I spoke my mind,
And met those who transgressed against me
With plain remonstrance, hiding nor nurturing
Nor secret griefs nor grudges.
That act of the Spartan boy is greatly praised,
Who hid the wolf under his cloak,
Letting it devour him, uncomplainingly.
It is braver, I think, to snatch the wolf forth
And fight him openly, even in the street,
Amid dust and howls of pain.
The tongue may be an unruly member—
But silence poisons the soul.
Berate me who will—I am content.
Dorcas was actually one of the characters I printed out to read at auditions for the play! I was so thrilled when I actually got to play her. I just love her outspoken cantankerous vibe. For the time and place this would get her generally disliked. People, women especially aren’t supposed to speak their minds so plainly like this! This is 1915 Illinois; folks are supposed to be passive aggressive and polite when someone pisses them off. But Dorcas has no time to keep things bottled up like that. She will tell you to your face if you upset her. Not only that, but she will also use Greek Mythology to prove why she is right. If politics and social justice has shown us anything recently, it is that silence is a poison that we can be damned for keeping.
We’re halfway through! Next is Mrs. Merritt
Mrs. Merritt
Silent before the jury,
Returning no word to the judge when he asked me
If I had aught to say against the sentence,
Only shaking my head.
What could I say to people who thought
That a woman of thirty-five was at fault
When her lover of nineteen killed her husband?
Even though she had said to him over and over,
“Go away, Elmer, go far away,
I have maddened your brain with the gift of my body:
You will do some terrible thing.”
And just as I feared, he killed my husband;
With which I had nothing to do, before God!
Silent for thirty years in prison!
And the iron gates of Joliet
Swung as the gray and silent trusties
Carried me out in a coffin.
Mrs. Merritt is probably my most tragic character. To summarize, yes she had an affair but her lover killed her husband. She had nothing to do with the murder but the society around her assumed she did and she ended up serving 30 years before passing away in prison. Meanwhile, her lover that actually committed the murder only serves 14 years, finds Jesus and is ultimately forgiven by the townsfolk. He gets out of prison younger than when she initially enters! When working on this character with the director, she compared this to cases like Brock Turner and other trials where blame is put on women for a man’s crime and how Mrs. Merritt has internalized this blame. The time and place she is living in would not allow for a woman who has sex out of marriage to be seen as anything but a villain, while any man involved is merely seen as the victim of a temptress and can be redeemed. We are still fighting this mentality today.
Next one is Trainor the Druggist:
Trainor the Druggist
Only the chemist can tell, and not always the chemist,
What will result from compounding
Fluids or solids.
And who can tell
How men and women will interact
On each other, or what children will result?
There were Benjamin Pantier and his wife,
Good in themselves, but evil toward each other;
He oxygen, she hydrogen,
Their son, a devastating fire.
I Trainor, the druggist, a mixer of chemicals,
Killed while making an experiment,
Lived unwedded.
Trainor is such an interesting weirdo. It may seem like he doesn’t talk much about himself, but his choice of people he is talking about is telling. He gives his analysis of the Pantier family via chemistry metaphors. The Pantier’s are a husband and wife who have separated because their personalities clash so bad they could no longer stand each other. Their son is seen as a troublemaker and perhaps is one due to his home life being so fraught. As a chemist, Trainor sees the world through this lens and decides for himself that he never wants to wed as he never wants to even risk getting bonded to someone whose chemicals don’t mix well with his. Aside from this, he dies “while making an experiment”! My dude is a mad scientist! What was this experiment? Did he explode?!?!
And finally, my longest monologue and the finale of our show, my beloved, Fiddler Jones:
Fiddler Jones
The earth keeps some vibration going
There in your heart, and that is you.
And if the people find you can fiddle,
Why, fiddle you must, for all your life.
What do you see, a harvest of clover?
Or a meadow to walk through to the river?
The wind’s in the corn; you rub your hands
For beeves hereafter ready for market;
Or else you hear the rustle of skirts
Like the girls when dancing at Little Grove.
To Cooney Potter a pillar of dust
Or whirling leaves meant ruinous drouth;
They looked to me like Red-Head Sammy
Stepping it off to “Toor-a-Loor.”
How could I till my forty acres
Not to speak of getting more,
With a medley of horns, bassoons and piccolos
Stirred in my brain by crows and robins
And the creak of a wind-mill—only these?
And I never started to plow in my life
That some one did not stop in the road
And take me away to a dance or picnic.
I ended up with forty acres;
I ended up with a broken fiddle—
And a broken laugh, and a thousand memories,
And not a single regret.
Oh Fiddler Jones, I love you so. His words are so beautiful (I hope the bad Irish accent I put on didn’t ruin them for anyone). I’ve never considered what I would get as a tattoo before, but those opening lines would be a big contender. Fiddler Jones is the chill, earthy, grounded anti-capitalist we need right now. I think we all strive to be this content with our lives but often fail. To see the world for its natural gifts and experiences with the people around you rather than to be always hustling to gain as much wealth as possible. Just reading this poem calms me and puts me in a good mood and I will definitely carry it with me in my own life.
If you’d like to read more pieces from Spoon River Anthology, you can find nearly all of them here.
I hope you enjoyed reading these pieces and I hope you have a wonderful last few days of national poetry month.
If you are interested in reading some more contemporary works, we have some excellent poems and fiction pieces in our second issue coming out this Saturday May first! Watch this space and our socials to see when it launches!
Gail Bello is a poet and playwright from Waltham, Massachusetts. She graduated in 2019 with a BFA in Creative Writing and a minor in Theatre from The University of Maine at Farmington. Find her previous publications at https://thaumaturgedramaturge.wordpress.com and follow her on Twitter @AquajadeGail