author

Oliver Wendell Holmes

1809–1894

A celebrated voice of 19th-century America, this physician-writer mixed wit, warmth, and sharp observation in poems and essays that made him a household name. He is especially remembered for the lively Breakfast-Table series and for "Old Ironsides," the poem that helped save the USS Constitution.

38 Audiobooks

The Common Law

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Wonderful "One-Hoss-Shay", and Other Poems

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poet at the Breakfast-Table

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Path of the Law

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Medical Essays, 1842-1882

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Professor at the Breakfast-Table

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Over the Teacups

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes: An Index of the Project Gutenberg Editions

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Elsie Venner

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Complete

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

A Mortal Antipathy

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The One Hoss Shay

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Guardian Angel

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Complete Project Gutenberg Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Works

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Pages from an Old Volume of Life; A Collection of Essays, 1857-1881

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Ralph Waldo Emerson

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Quotes and Images From the Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Our Hundred Days in Europe

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Stories of Romance

by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, Allan Cunningham, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford, John Wilson

John Lothrop Motley, A Memoir — Complete

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill Battle, as She Saw it from the Belfry

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Widger's Quotations from the Project Gutenberg Editions of the Works of Oliver W. Holmes, Sr.

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 06

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 02

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 12

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

John Lothrop Motley. a memoir — Volume 1

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 09

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

John Lothrop Motley. a memoir — Volume 2

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 07: Songs of Many Seasons

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 04: Songs in Many Keys

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 05

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

John Lothrop Motley. a memoir — Volume 3

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 11

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 10: Before the Curfew

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 01: Earlier Poems (1830-1836)

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 08

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 03: Medical Poems

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

About the author

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1809, Oliver Wendell Holmes built an unusual career as both a man of science and a man of letters. He studied medicine, became a physician and teacher, and went on to serve as a professor at Harvard Medical School, while also publishing poetry, essays, novels, and biographies.

Holmes was one of the best-known American writers of his time. His essay series beginning with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table won readers with its conversational style, humor, and quick intelligence. He also wrote the famous poem "Old Ironsides," which stirred public feeling in defense of the historic warship USS Constitution.

He died in 1894, leaving behind a body of work that feels learned without losing its charm. He is also remembered as the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who later became a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.