13. Kinsey Keene

A couple of poems ago, Harry Carey Goodhue looked nothing but pathetic for declaring his various fights with bank and court-house, leading citizens and business men. So, what to make of Kinsey Keene, who, without specifying any particular battle - apart from one in which he did not participate - claims a legendary slogan for his stone?

And does it matter that the words were likely never spoken? Certainly they were not spoken as dying words, or even words uttered just prior to battle? Does it matter that Cambronne was not even with the Guard when it died, already having been taken prisoner by Colonel Hugh Halkett? That, in fact, Cambronne died in England as a prisoner of war? (cf. ‘Cambronne’s Words’) 

Whatever words were or were not spoken, and we can’t really expect Edgar Lee Masters to do anything but accept the legend, the sentiment is obvious - Keene would have us believe that whatever struggles he engaged in are to be likened to the glorious defeat of the Guard at the Battle of Waterloo. Retrospectively, should we offer a little more consideration to the woes of Harry Carey Goodhue? Certainly, we should accept that the town of Spoon River was riddled with the kind of corruption certain good folk found worth their own sacrifice. Kinsey Keene wants it known that he fought the good fight and never surrendered, wants it noted for posterity upon his grave stone.

Keene’s epitaph amounts to a warning to those who would pervert their positions of authority and social power to their own ends. For where one hero leads, others are bound to follow. Thomas Rhodes, undoubtedly one of the most corrupt officials of Spoon River, and those others mentioned, should beware the on-going struggles of the ordinary and the powerless who will eventually carve their victory into the heart of Spoon River, as the imagined words of Cambronne are carved into Keene’s stone. 

It little matters whether those specific words, or that particular event, ever actually occurred. What matters is the spirit they embody, the spirit that Keene epitomises. 

That Cambronne’s words are not quoted may signify that Masters had some awareness of their mythic status. More likely, however, is the implication of the words not spoken, that no overt threat is made, for no definite campaign of resistence exists. Keene doesn’t utter the words for he has no particular person to speak to. His grave marker will stand as testament to the need for others to follow, even if, like himself, the road leads only to their own place on The Hill, as the brave Guard gave their lives on Mount Saint Jean.

The place name is replete with significance in this context.

Apart from the sacrifice of the Guard at Waterloo, the name may refer either to Saint John the Baptist, who was sacrificed for standing against the immorality of Herod Antipas, or to Saint Jean de Brébeuf, who gave his life as a missionary to the Huron in 1649. As Kinsey Keene makes reference to the corrupt, it may be that he aligns himself with John the Baptiser, a man who recognised the true nature of Jesus. This would make sense in regards to Keene’s reference to the “Social Purity Club”, a movement from the late 19th Century, made up largely of women, who sought the abolition of prostitution and other forms of sexual misconduct. Herod Antipas’ divorcing of his wife and his marrying of Herodias, the wife of his brother, would certainly fall into such a category of sexual misconduct. 

If such an identification is valid, then it means that Kinsey Keene is not simply railing against the corruption of finance and political power. He has in his sights also the moral decay of Spoon River, a way of life that pays mere lip-service to the Christian beatitudes. 

Kinsey Keene died for nothing less than a cleansing of the American soul.