SOURCE: “Spoon River People,” in The New Republic, Vol. 2, No. 24, April 17, 1915, pp. 14-15.

In the following review, Dell finds reasons to respect and admire Spoon River, despite his assertion that Masters's cynical viewpoint limits the philosophical scope of the work.

It is laid up as a charming fault against many if not most poets that they are chiefly interested in themselves. It has been a fault easy to forgive, because in dealing with materials so accessible—their own ideas and emotions, reminiscences and desires—they have been able to put all their poetic energy, which would otherwise have been largely expended in wondering about other people's lives, into sweeter music and more perfect words. We cannot but love the Herricks who in every age walk incuriously among their neighbors, meditating the dulcet fall of a line describing their favorite blossoms and their private brooks.

But when the poet...