Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: GRANVILLE CALHOUN, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS


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SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: GRANVILLE CALHOUN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I wanted to be county judge
Last Line: Looking at the old court-house?


I WANTED to be County Judge
One more term, so as to round out a service
Of thirty years.
But my friends left me and joined my enemies,
And they elected a new man.
Then a spirit of revenge seized me,
And I infected my four sons with it,
And I brooded upon retaliation,
Until the great physician, Nature,
Smote me through with paralysis
To give my soul and body a rest.
Did my sons get power and money?
Did they serve the people or yoke them,
To till and harvest fields of self?
For how could they ever forget
My face at my bed-room window,
Sitting helpless amid my golden cages
Of singing canaries,
Looking at the old court-house?





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