Question

Richard Bone by Edgar Lee Masters:

When I first came to Spoon River
I did not know whether what they told me
Was true or false.
They would bring me an epitaph
And stand around the shop while I worked
And say "He was so kind," "He was wonderful,"
"She was the sweetest woman," "He was a consistent Christian."
And I chiseled for them whatever they wished,
All in ignorance of its truth.
But later, as I lived among the people here,
I knew how near to the life
Were the epitaphs that were ordered for them when they died.
But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chisel
And made myself party to the false chronicles
Of the stones,
Even as the historian does who writes
Without knowing the truth,
Or because he is influenced to hide it.

1) why does he feel shame?


2) what is he saying about the history we learn from books and newspapers?

I really don't understand poems, could someone please answer these 2 questions!!!!!! Thanx

Answer 1

Spoon River Anthology is an entire collection of poems that tell about different people who live in a fictional small town in the American midwest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon_River_Anthology

In this poem, Richard Bone is clearly the guy who makes headstones for people's graves.
<i>When I first came to Spoon River
I did not know whether what they told me
Was true or false.
They would bring me an epitaph
And stand around the shop while I worked
...
And I chiseled for them whatever they wished,
All in ignorance of its truth.</i>

He puts on the headstones whatever the people tell him to, but after he lived in the town for a longer and longer time, he realized that those words were mostly lies.
<i>But later, as I lived among the people here,
I knew how near to the life
Were the epitaphs that were ordered for them when they died.
But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chisel
And made myself party to the false chronicles
Of the stones, </i>

And then he compares himself to historians who write whatever they want, without caring if it's the truth or not.
<i>Even as the historian does who writes
Without knowing the truth,
Or because he is influenced to hide it. </i>

So ... how will you answer those two questions?

Answer 2

i don't understand the first one but for the second question i think his saying that the history we learn from books and newspapers is not always the truth

Answer 3

That's right for the second question.

What do you think this means?

<i>But still I chiseled whatever they paid me to chisel
And made myself party to the false chronicles
Of the stones, </i>

Answer 4

didnt care, just wanted moneY?

Answer 5

In a few analysis I've seen how the names reflect his work. Richard (Living) Bone (dead)
Paraphrase (Each return is a separate thought):

When I arrived in my new home
I began to work and what they ordered
Didn't seem honest

They would bring me what they wanted the tombstones/ grave marker to say
And stand around and gossip/reminisce
And say nice things about these dead folks (two lines of compliments)

And I did my job
Writing epitaphs about their allusions of these dead people

... More analyzing later
Sorry Class is over

Answer 6

Hi
2nd question: he is saying that the history and books we read aren’t totally accurate because historians can write and record whatever they want.
1st question: he feels shame because he has been writing lies for people who weren’t even close to the epitaphs when he knew that they weren’t real.