Thomas Rhodes -- Spoon River Anthology

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This poem was included in the original 1915 edition.

VERY well, you liberals,
And navigators into realms intellectual,
You sailors through heights imaginative,
Blown about by erratic currents, tumbling into air pockets,
You Margaret Fuller Slacks, Petits,
And Tennessee Claflin Shopes--
You tound with all your boasted wisdom
How hard at the last it is
To keep the soul from splitting into cellular atoms.
While we, seekers of earth's treasures
Getters and hoarders of gold,
Are self-contained, compact, harmonized,
Even to the end.

Comments

Paul Houle , 9 months ago

Talked about in more epitaphs than anyone else, Thomas Rhodes is clearly Spoon River's most prominent citizen. Yet, rather than talking about his accomplishments, Rhodes expresses his disdain for the artists, intellectuals and dreamers of the town.

Rhodes owned the bank and other businesses in the town. His bank failed, which was a common occurrence in the time between the civil war and WWII, a time in which explosive economic growth alternated with financial panics.

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Prominent Words

Blown (in 2 documents)
heights (in 2 documents)
imagine (in 2 documents)
Petit (in 2 documents)
realms (in 2 documents)
Claflin (in 3 documents)
contained (in 3 documents)
current (in 3 documents)
Fuller (in 3 documents)
liberal (in 3 documents)
Margaret (in 3 documents)
pocket (in 3 documents)
Shope (in 3 documents)
Slack (in 3 documents)
Tennessee (in 4 documents)
Harmon (in 5 documents)
treasure (in 5 documents)

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