Spoon River Anthology: John M. Church–Carl Hamblin

The noun can also mean "legal exemption from liability for damages." This meaning is what the lawyer managed to win for the owners of the mine, but the insurance company was supposed to connect to the chosen definition for the workers and families who suffered injuries or losses because of the dangerous conditions.

The images in the last line suggest that the speaker was a weaver. But Petit was a poet, and his name suggests his feeling about his chosen occupation ("petit" means "small" in French). He spent his life constantly ("without interruption") writing poems, and now he regrets how his focus on creating lines with syllables that are constants ("a quantity that does not vary") made him blind to the many wonderful aspects of nature, human and geographical, that surrounded him.

Compare with "jeer" in the list for The Hill-Theodore the Poet. Both connect to derision, but the disrespectful dislike shown by the jeering Yahoos was more openly mean and hurtful. Here, the speaker describes how the mirror reflected an image that was nothing like the woman she was ten years ago. Looking half-dead, Pauline killed herself because she didn't want to be a mockery of life; this contrasts with Minerva who died because she was mocked ("treat with contempt").

"Audacity," "courage" and "spirit" mean the same thing here. There is no need to list all three nouns. But the repetition is part of a speech pattern that can also be seen in the use of the word "valiant" three times. The author seems to be mocking the speaker, because anyone who needs to emphasize his bravery is usually a coward. This seems true for Jefferson Howard, whose fight was not as a soldier but as a civilian against Spoon River, the church, and Prohibition.

Compare with "recluse" in this list. The two words and speakers are related, but their tones are different. The rich father is sadly describing how poorly his children turned out. Thus, he chooses the more negative word "recluse" (the Latin "recludere" means "to shut up, enclose"). The daughter however chooses to explain her solitude as a positive struggle to find her soul and become a better person.

The Latin "erratum" means "an error, mistake, fault." In the example sentence, Thomas Rhodes starts off sounding like he's agreeing with liberals and other free-sailing thinkers, but the adjective "erratic" emphasizes his belief that they were wrong to criticize him for focusing on gold, especially since his soul, unlike theirs, is still whole.

The noun can also mean "granting favors in return for political support" and "the act of providing approval and support." All the definitions can fit, since the judge could've granted a favor if he'd liked the way the artist took his picture, and he could've provided the approval and support that would've attracted more customers. But the artist Penniwit stupidly yelled "overruled" at the judge.

The phrase "it corrupted public morals" is said with a mocking tone, because it, Dom Pedro, was a horse. The speaker Jim Brown has likely been exposed to racial divisions based on skin color, but he sees that in Spoon River, men are made of two races: those who want to play cards, dance, sing operas; and those who think these activities are corrupt. Jim also shows which side he really thinks is corrupt with the phrase "for men, or for money."

A wife is not usually both a termagant and a wanton. A wanton is a "lewd or lascivious woman." The speaker knew his wanton wife was cheating on him with many men, so he could've scolded and divorced her. But doing this would've cost him his job and reputation as a preacher. Instead, he put on an act as a patient husband who had to put up with his wife's scolding. And the wife probably acted like a termagant to hide being a wanton.

Compare with "rapturous" in the list for The Hill-Theodore the Poet. The adjectives are synonymous. But as this example sentence suggests, a feeling of ecstasy is often connected to more physical pleasures. The speaker was a chaplain ("a clergyman ministering to some institution") who disgraced himself and a woman with an affair. Thus, he argues here that women and wine are two ways for the soul to reach ecstatic heights.

The chosen definition is for a verb, but the word can also function as a noun and adjective. The reckless and wanton boy did not behave in the same way as the wife who was a termagant and a wanton. What they have in common can be seen in the Middle English root: "wan-towen" means "resistant to control; willful."