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The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table

By Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

Essays inspired by the renowned nineteenth-century writer’s time at a Boston boardinghouse.
 
These philosophical essays, enlivened by a number of poems, draw upon Oliver Wendell Holmes’s time spent as a young man at the table with his fellow boarders—the professor, the divinity student, and the schoolmistress, as well as the landlady—in the thriving cultural hub of Boston. First published in the Atlantic Monthly in the 1850s, they reflect on topics ranging from the nature of conversation to the surprising benefits of old age—filled with the flavor of historical New England, and often sharpened with wonderful comic flair.
 
Featured poems include “The Deacon’s Masterpiece,” “The Chambered Nautilus,” “Contentment,” and “The Living Temple.”

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About Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. A member of the Fireside Poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the “Breakfast Table” series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table.

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