Domesday Book

Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 472K words
Chapters: 48

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Domesday Book by Edgar Lee MastersAuthor: Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Apr 29, 2011

Editor's review

Domesday Book is a poetry collection by Edgar Lee Masters, a work of American literature released free through Project Gutenberg. Masters is best known for Spoon River Anthology and for using free verse to portray ordinary people, giving forgotten voices new life on the page. This book continues that approach of writing about people through poetry; its title borrows the image of England's Domesday Book, suggesting an inventory-like reckoning of characters and fates. The poems are plain in language and strongly narrative, suited to being read piece by piece in a quiet setting while savoring the situations and tones of the people in them. For readers studying the history of American poetry or interested in free-verse narrative poetry, this book offers a sample of Masters's development; as a public-domain e-book, it is also easy to search and quote. There is no need to look for plot progression in reading it; it is better to treat each poem as an independent small portrait and gradually piece together the author's observations on human nature and society.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy American free verse and want to understand Masters's development
Researchers interested in narrative poetry about ordinary people in American literature
Teachers who need public-domain English poetry texts for teaching or quotation
Readers accustomed to fragmented poetry reading on electronic devices

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a continuous plot or novel-like narrative
Readers who need a Chinese translation and are not used to reading original English poems
Beginners hoping for detailed annotations and scholarly introductions

Reading tips

First read through the table of contents and start with a poem whose title or character name attracts you; there is no need to proceed in order.
After finishing each poem, note in one sentence the situation of the person in it, to help grasp the author's gallery of characters as a whole.
When you encounter unfamiliar names or allusions, skip them first and look back after finishing, so as not to interrupt the reading rhythm.
You can read it alongside Masters's Spoon River Anthology to observe the consistency and changes in his approach of writing about people through poetry.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a poetry collection?

It is a poetry collection by Edgar Lee Masters, a work of American literature, not a novel. Most poems unfold around characters and have a narrative quality, but the overall genre is poetry, and it should be approached by poem rather than by chapter.

Can I read it without a background in poetry?

You can try, but it takes some patience. Masters's language is relatively plain and strongly narrative, not as obscure as modernist poetry; however, the original English poems still involve cultural background and usage, so it is advisable to start with short poems and not expect to understand everything at once.

Does this electronic edition include annotations or an introduction?

According to the available information, this is a public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, with no mention of annotations or an introduction. If you encounter obstacles with names or allusions while reading, you can look up relevant materials yourself or skip them first without affecting overall understanding.

Is it suitable for classroom teaching?

It can be used as supplementary material, especially when teaching American poetry or free-verse narrative poetry. But the book lacks teaching aids, so teachers need to prepare background introductions and annotations themselves; it is not suitable as a main textbook for classes with no foundation.

Comments

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About the author

Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950 Author

Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) was an American poet best known for Spoon River Anthology, a collection of verse epitaphs in which the dead of a small town speak for themselves. In spare, unsentimental lines, these poems expose the secrets, disappointments, and ironies hidden beneath ordinary lives, breaking with the solemn tone of traditional elegy and leaving a clear mark on the subjects and voice of modern American poetry. The library holds nine of his works, including, besides Spoon River Anthology, The Open Sea, The Great Valley, Starved Rock, Mitch Miller, Songs and Satires, Toward the Gulf, and Domesday Book. These touch on nature and regional landscape, the historical memory of the American Midwest, and observations of social life. Masters is generally noted for his realistic portraits of people and places, written in plain language with an ironic edge. Public information about his life and education is limited, so no details are given here.