Lucinda Matlock Poem Analysis - 936 Words

Edgar Lee Masters is best known for his book Spoon River Anthology. Spoon River Anthology is considered by some critics, like Ernest Earnest, to be one of the greatest poetry collections in American literature. One of the most popular poems in Spoon River Anthology is â€Å"Lucinda Matlock.† In â€Å"Lucinda Matlock,† Masters concocts a fictional character, who is based on his grandmother, that tells readers from beyond the grave about the beauty and the pain that she faced in her life. The paradox of having beauty and pain at the same time contributes to the theme of not letting your sorrows overcome you and loving life for what life is. Throughout the entire poem, Lucinda Matlock is talking to the readers about her life. Lucinda starts off with†¦show more content†¦She says she was married and had twelve kids, outliving eight of them. She is considering her life in these lines as enjoyable, even with it being strenuous and focused around work. These four lines also lack emotion because she just blankly states her marriage and the loss of her children. These lines show the stoicism that makes it possible for her to survive her difficult life. This is an example of the paradox of having both beauty and pain at the same time. Another example of the paradox is found in lines ten through fifteen. In these lines, Lucinda is describing how she spends her days. She has many domestic chores that focus on keeping a household. Those chores range from tending to her sick husband and children to making clothes. The poem then shifts to her work outdoors. While she is working in the garden, she reminisces about walking through fields listening to the birds sing as a form of pleasure and recreation. The poem then shifts back to her home life of taking care of the sick in her family when she is collecting medicinal herbs outside. Even though she is still doing chores and work, Lucinda claims that she still enjoys life. The paradox of beauty and pain happening simultaneously contributes to the theme of notShow MoreRelatedPoetry Analysis Paper of Edgar Lee Masters and Amy Lowell1857 Words   |  8 Pagesfarmland people. His poem â€Å"Lucinda Matlock† is told to the reader from the protagonist’s, an old woman’s point of view, which makes this a dramatic monologue, because she talks about herself and her life. She does this as though she is reflecting back on her life, over a seventy year span. Masters’ poem does not follow a specific rhythm and rhyme pattern that readers were previously used to before the modernist movement came about, making this a modern poem. â€Å"Lucinda Matlock† was inspired by his