What is the theme in Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters?

Revenge is a major theme in the book. Henry C. Calhoun warns the reader that, when passing the Fates at their weaving, "Stop for a moment, and if you see/ The thread of revenge leap out of the shuttle/ Then quickly snatch from Atropos/ The shears and cut it, lest your sons,/ And the children of them and their children/ Wear the envenomed robe" (p. 198). Threads of revenge leap frequently out of the shuttle and into many characters robes in The Spoon River Anthology. Granville Calhoun tells the reader that his hatred of the residents of Spoon River, born out of their refusal to elect him to one more term as County Judge in order to satisfy his vanity, infected his son Henry, who then spent all his years endeavoring to exact his father's revenge on the town that lifted him up.