The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

In "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table," Oliver Wendell Holmes presents a delightful series of essays that unfold in the conversational setting of a breakfast table, where the eponymous Autocrat shares his reflections and insights on a wide range of topics, from philosophy to social issues. The literary style is characterized by its conversational tone, blending humor with earnest observation, which invites readers into an intimate dialogue. Holmes weaves a rich tapestry of 19th-century American life, infusing the narrative with wit and erudition, making it a notable precursor to the literary movement of American realism. Holmes, a prominent physician and member of the Boston Brahmins, was deeply immersed in the intellectual currents of his time, influenced by transcendentalism and the burgeoning American literary identity. His diverse background—as a poet, essayist, and medical practitioner—provided Holmes with a unique perspective on the complexities of human experience, which he adeptly navigates in this work. His personal explorations of life and society resonate with authenticity and intellectual curiosity. Recommended for readers who appreciate sharp wit and contemplative essays, "The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table" is not just a feast for the mind but also a rich exploration of the human condition. Holmes invites you to sit at his table, where every conversation ignites thoughtful reflection, making it an enduring classic worthy of attention in the canon of American literature.


  1. The Wit and Humor of America (Vol. 1-10) : Comedy Anthology: Funny Stories, Poems, Humorous Articles, Fables & Fairy Tales

    O.Henry, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Bret Harte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Benjamin Franklin, Edward Everett Hale, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Kendrick Bangs, William Dean Howells, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henry Ward Beecher, John G. Saxe, James Russell Lowell, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robert W. Chambers, Edmund Clarence Stedman, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wallace Irwin, Eugene Field, Anne Virginia Culbertson, John Paul, Lloyd Osbourne, James Montgomery Flagg, Bill Nye, Robert J. Burdette, Wilbur D. Nesbit, Gelett Burgess, James Whitcomb Riley, Frank L. Stanton, Bayard Taylor, Artemus Ward, Elizabeth Stuart Ward, Charles Dudley Warner, Carolyn Wells, Owen Wister

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  2. The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Complete

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  3. Our Hundred Days in Europe

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  4. John Lothrop Motley, A Memoir — Complete

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  5. A Mortal Antipathy

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  6. Elsie Venner

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  7. The Common Law

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  8. The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Complete

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  9. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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  10. The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever

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  11. Harvard Classics Volume 42 : English Poetry 3: Tennyson To Whitman

    Lord, Golden Deer Classics, Richard Monckton Milnes, William Makepeace Thackeray, Charles Kingsley, J. Wilson, Robert Browning, Emily Brontë, Robert Stephen Hawker, Coventry Patmore, William (Johnson) Cory, Sydney Dobell, William Allingham, George MacDonald, Earl of, Arthur Hugh Clough, Matthew Arnold, George Meredith, Alexander Smith, Charles Dickens, Thomas Edward Brown, James Thomson V.), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Christina Georgina Rossetti, William Morris, John Boyle O'Reilly, Arthur William O'Shaughnessy, Robert Williams Buchanan, Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Ernest Henley, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Allan Poe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Sidney Lanier, Bret Harte, Walt Whitman

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