- Edgar Lee Masters Stamp - US Government - Wikimedia Commons
Edgar Lee Masters’ “Zenas Witt” from Spoon River Anthology features an unfortunate character whose nerves, it would seem, led him to an early grave.
First Movement: “I was sixteen, and I had the most terrible dreams”
Zenas begins his discourse, by announcing that when he was sixteen years old, he had “the most terrible dreams.” He saw “specks before [his] eyes.” He reports his inability to remember books he had read.
Zenas likens his condition to “Frank Drummer,” who claimed to have memorized the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. The disconnect between Zenas’ assertion that his condition was similar to Frank Drummer and his own description of his difficulty demonstrates the fuzzy thinking that the former seems to suffer in addition to his physical problems.
Second Movement: “And my back was weak, and I worried and worried”
Zenas continues to describe his unfortunate health issues: he had a weak back, he worried excessively, he was easily embarrassed by his maladies, and when he had to stand up in class to recite his lessons he would forget them. His memory was so bad that even though he had studied, he could never remember anything.
Third Movement: “Well, I saw Dr. Weese’s advertisement”
Zenas reports that he saw “Dr. Weese’s advertisement” and was attracted by what the ad said. He read everything about Dr. Weese’s putative miracle cure. Zenas felt that the doctor was describing his own situation, “just as if he had known me.”
The doc even knows about the dreams, and Zenas feels he must emphasis that he could not control the dreams. Such a confession implies that Zenas might have believed he had control over his other woes but felt guilty that he did not do so.
Fourth Movement: “So I knew I was marked for an early grave”
Nothing ever came of this possible miracle cure, and Zenas admits that he was sure he would die early. Thus, he continued to worry right up until the time he developed a cough. He says that the dreams abruptly came to a halt. Zenas does not elaborate or even hint at how long he continued to suffer his nervousness, nightmares, and poor memory.
Fifth Movement: “And then I slept the sleep without dreams”
Suddenly, without fanfare, Zenas is dead. He dramatically and poetically refers to his condition as “sle[eping] the sleep without dreams / Here on the hill by the river.”
Zenas is one of the more tight-lipped deceased reporters from the Spoon River graveyard. The reader never learns the specifics of his illnesses and is left to guess their nature as well as just how long Zenas had to suffer them. He also leaves unclear just exactly what eventually killed him.
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
