Poems vs Spoon River Anthology: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Modern Poetry, Collections, Poetry
vs
Spoon River Anthology
“Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley,”
In Spoon River Anthology, the American poet Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) created a series of compelling free-verse monologues in which former citizens of a mythical Midwestern town speak touchingly from the grave of…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Spoon River Anthology is the quickest read — about 5 hours vs 9 for Poems.
- Spoon River Anthology has the widest readership — 1301 ratings behind its score.
- Poems runs the darker storyline; Spoon River Anthology stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Poems | Spoon River Anthology | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.1 (748) | 4.0 (1301) |
| Hardcover | 4.0 (6) | 3.8 (19) |
| Google Books | — | 4.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (8) |
Reception
| Poems | Spoon River Anthology | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 748 | 1301 |
| Editions | 95 | 171 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 852 | 15308 |
| Reading it now | 19 | — |
| Written reviews | 31 | 1301 |
| Wikipedia attention | 19870 | 3247 |
| Pages | 526 | 306 |