Editor Whedon

Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)



To be able to see every side of every question;
To be on every side, to be everything, to be nothing long;
To pervert truth, to ride it for a purpose,
To use great feelings and passions of the human family
For base designs, for cunning ends,
To wear a mask like the Greek actors --
Your eight-page paper -- behind which you huddle,
Bawling through the megaphone of big type:
"This is I, the giant."
Thereby also living the life of a sneak-thief,
Poisoned with the anonymous words
Of your clandestine soul.
To scratch dirt over scandal for money,
And exhume it to the winds for revenge,
Or to sell papers,
Crushing reputations, or bodies, if need be,
To win at any cost, save your own life.
To glory in demoniac power, ditching civilization,
As a paranoiac boy puts a log on the track
And derails the express train.
To be an editor, as I was.
Then to lie here close by the river over the place
Where the sewage flows from the village,
And the empty cans and garbage are dumped,
And abortions are hidden.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
49

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKLDMFDNAOPQRSTA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 986
Words 190
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 25

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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