As part of the “Chicago Renaissance,” which included writers such as Vachel Lindsay, Carl Sandburg, and Theodore Dreiser, much of Masters's writing focused on America's people, their lives and dreams. Prolific though he was-writing plays, essays, and biographies, in addition to his verse, over the course of his forty-year career-his place in the American canon is still debated. The more than fifty works in Masters's canon (forty of which were published after Spoon River) did not bring the author the acclaim, both popularly and critically, that he enjoyed with the publication of Spoon River. Even today, this collection remains widely read and is considered a crucial text of early-twentieth-century poetry. His book received its share of criticism, both culturally and poetically, but contemporary writers such as Ezra Pound and Carl Sandburg lauded its expressionism and insight-comparing Masters's arrival to that of Walt Whitman's. In 1915, with the publication of what would become his greatest work, Spoon River Anthology, Masters gained immediate fame, and his voice was widely considered fresh and influential American poetry. This dilemma is especially true in the case of the midwestern poet Edgar Lee Masters. One of the most difficult accomplishments in the arts is to deliver a follow-up success.
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