Spoon River Anthology · Chapter
Percy Bysshe Shelley explained
The speaker, a young man sent to university by his wealthy father, returns home with little education and spends his days hunting.
What happens
The speaker, a young man sent to university by his wealthy father, returns home with little education and spends his days hunting. He dies accidentally when his gun discharges and shoots him through the heart. His father erects a marble monument in his honor, and the speaker reflects on the contrast between his own memorial and the scattering of his namesake's ashes near Rome.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Legacy
The speaker's accidental death and the elaborate monument erected by his father contrast with the scattering of his namesake's ashes, exploring how legacy is constructed and remembered.
Class and Power
The father's wealth from the wagon-shop and horse-shoeing business enables him to send his son to university and later commission a marble shaft, highlighting the role of economic status in shaping life and death.
Characters to notice
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
The speaker, a young man who dies in a hunting accident and is memorialized by his father.
Key passages
“My father who owned the wagon-shop And grew rich shoeing horses Sent me to the University of Montreal. I learned nothing and returned home, Roaming the fields with Bert Kessler, Hunting quail and snipe.”
My father, a wealthy wagon-shop owner and blacksmith, paid for my education at the University of Montreal, but I gained nothing from it and came back to spend my days hunting with a friend.
Establishes the speaker's privileged background and aimless post-college life.
“At Thompson’s Lake the trigger of my gun Caught in the side of the boat And a great hole was shot through my heart.”
While in a boat on Thompson's Lake, my gun's trigger snagged on the boat's side, firing a bullet that tore a fatal hole through my heart.
Describes the accidental nature of the speaker's death.
“Over me a fond father erected this marble shaft, On which stands the figure of a woman Carved by an Italian artist.”
My loving father had a marble monument built over my grave, topped with a statue of a woman sculpted by an Italian artist.
Highlights the father's grief and the elaborate memorial created for the speaker.
“They say the ashes of my namesake Were scattered near the pyramid of Caius Cestius Somewhere near Rome.”
I've heard that the remains of the poet I was named after were scattered near the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, somewhere close to Rome.
Draws a contrast between the speaker's fixed monument and the famous poet's dispersed ashes.