| Timeline |
| 1868 |
Born 23 August in Garnett, Kansas |
| 1869 |
Family moves to Illinois |
| 1891 |
Admitted to the Illinois Bar |
| 1892 |
Moves to Chicago, works as bill collector |
| 1893 |
Forms a law partnership with Kickham Scanlan |
| 1898 |
Marries Helen M. Jenkins on 21 June; A Book of Verses published |
| 1899 |
Son Hardin born |
| 1902 |
Maximilian published |
| 1903 |
Joins Clarence Darrow's law firm |
| 1904 |
The New Star Chamber published; daughters Madeline and Marcia born |
| 1905 |
Blood of the Prophets published |
| 1907 |
Althea published |
| 1908 |
The Trifler published |
| 1909 |
Has affair with Tennessee Mitchell, wife refuses to divorce him; The Leaves of the Tree published |
| 1910 |
Songs and Sonnets, Eileen and The Locket published |
| 1911 |
Returns to private law practice; The Bread of Idleness published |
| 1912 |
Songs and Sonnets: Second Series published |
| 1915 |
Spoon River Anthology published |
| 1916 |
Songs and Satires and The Great Valley published |
| 1917 |
Leaves wife and family |
| 1918 |
Toward the Gulf published |
| 1919 |
Starved Rock published |
| 1920 |
Gives up law practice and moves to New York; Domesday Book and Mitch Miller published |
| 1921 |
Travels in Europe; The Open Sea published |
| 1922 |
Divorces wife; Children of the Market Place published |
| 1923 |
The Nuptial Flight and Skeeters Kirby published |
| 1924 |
Extensive Lecture Tour; The New Spoon River and Mirage published |
| 1925 |
Selected Poems and Lee: A Dramatic Poem published |
| 1926 |
Marries Ellen Coyne |
| 1927 |
Levy Mayer and the New Industrial Era and Kit O'Brien published |
| 1928 |
Son Hilary Masters born; Jack Kelso: A Dramatic Poem published |
| 1929 |
The Fate of the Jury: An Epilogue to Domesday Book published |
| 1930 |
Lichee Nuts and Gettysburg, Manila, Acoma: Three Plays published |
| 1931 |
Lincoln: The Man and Godbey: A Dramatic Poems published |
| 1933 |
The Serpent in the Wilderness and The Tale of Chicago published |
| 1934 |
Dramatic Duologues: Four Short Plays in Verse published |
| 1934 |
Richmond: A Dramatic Poem published |
| 1935 |
Invisible Landscapes and Vachel Lindsay: A Poet in America published |
| 1936 |
Poems of People, The Golden Fleece of California and Across Spoon River: An Autobiography published; Awarded Mark Twain silver medal |
| 1937 |
Whitman, The Tide of Time, Hymn to the Unknown God: New Age Ministry of Religious Research and The New World published |
| 1938 |
Mark Twain: A Portrait published |
| 1939 |
More People published |
| 1940 |
The Living Thoughts of Emerson published |
| 1941 |
Poetry Society of America Award; Illinois Poems published |
| 1942 |
Receives grants from American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters; Along the Illinois and The Sangamon published |
| 1944 |
Receives Shelley Memorial Award |
| 1950 |
Dies 5 March in a convalescent home in Philadelphia |
