Spoon River Anthology · Chapter
Zenas Witt explained
Zenas Witt recounts his adolescent struggles with anxiety, poor memory, and physical weakness, which led him to believe he was doomed to an early death after reading a doctor's advertisement that seemed to describe his symptoms exactly.
What happens
Zenas Witt recounts his adolescent struggles with anxiety, poor memory, and physical weakness, which led him to believe he was doomed to an early death after reading a doctor's advertisement that seemed to describe his symptoms exactly. His worries eventually subsided, and he now rests in a dreamless sleep on the hill by the river.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Legacy
Zenas Witt's epitaph directly addresses his early death, which he believed was foretold by his symptoms and the advertisement.
Unfulfilled Lives and Repression
His life was marked by anxiety, embarrassment, and a sense of inadequacy, cut short before he could achieve anything.
Characters to notice
- Zenas Witt
The speaker of the epitaph, reflecting on his youthful anxieties and early death.
Key passages
“I was sixteen, and I had the most terrible dreams, And specks before my eyes, and nervous weakness.”
At age sixteen, I suffered from frightening dreams, visual disturbances, and a general nervous condition.
Zenas describes the onset of his health anxieties.
“And I couldn’t remember the books I read, Like Frank Drummer who memorized page after page.”
I struggled to recall what I read, unlike Frank Drummer who could memorize entire pages.
He compares his poor memory unfavorably to a peer.
“Well, I saw Dr. Weese’s advertisement, And there I read everything in print, Just as if he had known me;”
Then I came across Dr. Weese's ad, which described my exact symptoms as if he had personally diagnosed me.
The advertisement confirmed his fears.
“So I knew I was marked for an early grave.”
I became convinced that I was destined to die young.
His belief in an early death became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“And then I slept the sleep without dreams Here on the hill by the river.”
And then I fell into a dreamless sleep here on the hill beside the river.
A metaphor for death, ending his troubled life.