The Wonderful One-Hoss-Shay, and Other Poems

Downloads: Under 100
Pages: 34

Read online EPUB Download Save

About this book

The title poem opens with a question: have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss-shay, built in such a logical way that it ran a hundred years to a day? The year is 1755, the year of the Lisbon earthquake, when the Deacon finishes it. He means to make the weakest place as strong as the rest, so he asks the village folk for the strongest oak, and the poem lists lancewood thills, ash crossbars, white-wood panels and hubs of the Settler's ellum.

The book also holds On Lending a Punchbowl and The Last Leaf. In the punchbowl poem the Mayflower and Miles Standish appear, and the Captain stirs a posset on a winter evening. The pages carry many illustrations by Thomas McIlvaine, with captions such as I dew vum and The Parson Takes a Drive.

About the author

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), known as Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., was an American physician, poet and novelist based in Boston. He belonged to the group called the fireside poets, worked as a medical reformer and taught as a professor. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and his titles include "Elsie Venner".

More by Oliver Wendell Holmes

See all 2 books

Elsie Venner

Discussion

No comments yet. Share a thought, a question or a favourite passage.

Read or download

Public domain book This work is in the public domain and free of copyright. Anyone may read, download and share it.

Read online Text reader: adjustable size, font and theme. Open PDF (original pages)

PDF 2.0 MB Keeps the printed page layout
EPUB 1.8 MB Reflows on phones and e-readers

Downloads start right away. How to open EPUB on your phone

Report a problem with this file

Book facts

Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes
Reading time: About 10 minutes
Pages: 34
Language: English
Genre: Poetry
Formats: PDF, EPUB, Read online

Help and policies

Language