Masters, Edgar Lee: Spoon River Anthology - Frank Drummer

  Out of a cell into this darkened space--

  The end at twenty-five!

  My tongue could not speak what stirred within me,

  And the village thought me a fool.

  Yet at the start there was a clear vision,

  A high and urgent purpose in my soul

  Which drove me on trying to memorize

  The Encyclopedia Britannica!