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Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters
In the anthology, some poems appear to have similar themes. Evidently, this is a
coincidence since when collecting poems for an anthology, the editors do not have the purpose to
attain particular themes. From the anthology, I find that Amanda Barker's poem on Henry Found
me with a Child to have similar subject matter as compared to Cassius Hueffer's the Epitaph. In
the two poems, it appears that the poets are addressing the same societal issue.
In the two, poems, the poets demonstrate human deceit. Human beings are rational
beings, and as such when they participate in an activity, they supposed to be conscious of the
expected outcomes. Unlike animals and infants that act through instinct, adults are conscious of
the actions. However, in the two poems, you will realize that the personas in the two poems
decry about human insincerity. Human beings understand that it wrong to give information or act
in a manner that deviates from reality. In Hueffer’s case, the poet indicates how the epitaph
demonstrates a different case from the life that he used to live. The epitaph seems to deviate from
the truth that the persona knows. Considerably, this is an epitome of how human beings tend to
act dishonestly. The designers of the epitaph fail to consider that the persona did not live an
honorable way of life and decide to change on the writings so that to reflect the opposite. On the
part of Barker, the persona indicates that Henry intended to slew her because of hatred.
Expectedly, human beings are supposed to be compassionate about others. As such, the decision
by Henry to use the persona in the poem as a means to an end reflects human deceit too.
