Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950) was born in Garnett, Kansas, but grew up in two small Illinois towns, Petersburg and Lewiston. Life in such small towns inspired his best-known work, Spoon River Anthology (1915). Masters briefly attended Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, before studying law in his father's office and passing the bar. In 1891, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a bill collector for the Edison Company until he was able to build a successful law practice. He later formed a law firm in which Clarence Darrow, the great criminal defense lawyer, was a partner. All the while, he was writing poems, having some published and many rejected.

When an editor sent him a copy of Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology, a collection of classical epigrams—short, often witty sayings, many of which were originally used on gravestones- Masters began using the concise style of the epigram in his own work. Harriet Monroe, editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, discovered his work in this style and helped him get the work published as Spoon River Anthology. The book was an instant and undreamed-of success. Masters gave up law and moved to New York City in the 1920s. His writing career included novels, plays, and biographies, but none of his other work ever achieved the recognition of Spoon River Anthology.