Lucinda Matlock

I went to the dances at Chandlerville,
And played snap-out at Winchester.
One time we changed partners,
Driving home in the moonlight of middle June,
And then I found Davis.
We were married and lived together for seventy years,
Enjoying, working, raising the twelve children,
Eight of whom we lost
Ere I had reached the age of sixty.
I spun, I wove, I kept the house, I nursed the sick,
I made the garden, and for holiday
Rambled over the fields where sang the larks,
And by Spoon River gathering many a shell,
And many a flower and medicinal weed--
Shouting to the wooded hills, singing to the green valleys.
At ninety-six I had lived enough, that is all,
And passed to a sweet repose.
What is this I hear of sorrow and weariness,
Anger, discontent and drooping hopes?
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you--
It takes life to love Life.

Lucinda Matlock Questions:
1. Describe Lucinda Matlock's life.
2. What is it that Lucinda Matlock doesn't understand (what is it that she questions)?
3. Does she have any reason for feeling sad and down? Explain.
4. What is her comment regarding what she doesn't understand (see #2)? Do you agree with her? Explain your answer.

Lucinda Matlock

This poem was based on Masters' paternal grandmother, Lucinda Masters (1814-1910). She is described as a woman of vitality, simplicity, and good humor. Lucinda Young and Squire Davis Masters were married at Manchester, Illinois, on March 6,1834. They remained married until his death seventy years later. They had eight children. Lucinda and her husband are buried alongside each other in Petersburg's Oakland Cemetery.