Ernest Hyde (by Edgar Lee Masters)
Ernest Hyde
by Edgar Lee Masters
from Spoon River Anthology [1915]
My mind was a mirror:
It saw what it saw, it knew what it knew.
In youth my mind was just a mirror
In a rapidly flying car,
Which catches and loses bits of the landscape.
Then in time
Great scratches were made on the mirror,
Letting the outside world come in,
And letting my inner self look out.
For this is the birth of the soul in sorrow,
A birth with gains and losses.
The mind sees the world as a thing apart,
And the soul makes the world at one with itself.
A mirror scratched reflects no image—
And this is the silence of wisdom.
Click here to read more of Spoon River Anthology in the Online Library
Posted by Jesus Crisis at 2/3/2010 4:52 PM 
Categories: Masters (Edgar Lee), Writing, 1900s, American
Tags: Spoon River Anthology 1915 Edgar Lee Masters American Poetry American Literature
Categories: Masters (Edgar Lee), Writing, 1900s, American
Tags: Spoon River Anthology 1915 Edgar Lee Masters American Poetry American Literature
I've not really connected to any of his pieces till this one.
I think it is the frame of mind I'm in but I like this... something I can relate to. Something I think about often...
Thanks John... for posting it.
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Thank you! I think a lot of the Spoon River poems works better in the context of the book than they do and individual poems. This one, however, stands alone perfectly well.
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Asking this not having seen the book... but why does he ascribe names to the poems when they aren't always about people? That sort of baffles me?
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All the poems in Spoon River Anthology are written from the perspectives of dead people in the town's cemetery. So each title reflects the name of whoever is "speaking" in a particular poem.
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Thanks.. I didn't realize this was the context for the poems... that helps.
I assume the poems aren't necessarily biographical in anyway but meant to depict his story or impressions of the person, or their life, etc... maybe what he imagined?
An interesting idea..
Anyway... thank you John.
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Really is though provoking. Thanks for posting this one John! :)
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