The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 05

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 99K words
Chapters: 10

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes — Volume 05 by Oliver Wendell HolmesAuthor: Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Sep 30, 2004

Editor's review

This fifth volume of Holmes's poems continues the multi-volume arrangement of his collected verse, bringing together pieces that vary widely in subject and form, from short lyrics to longer poems. Holmes's verse is known for its regular rhyme and friendly tone, often conveying reflections on life, friendship, and society beneath a light exterior. The volume's value lies in showing a more varied side of his writing and is suited to readers who have already encountered his best-known short poems and wish to go further. The public-domain electronic edition allows full-text searching and can serve as a base text for scholarly quotation and collation. A suggested approach is to begin with the table of contents for an overall sense of the whole, then select pieces of personal interest for close reading; historical figures and allusions can be looked up as needed, and there is no need to understand everything at first reading. For teachers of English poetry, several pieces can also serve as material for analyzing meter and rhetoric.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers already familiar with Holmes's short poems who wish to read further
Teachers of English poetry seeking a public-domain text for meter and rhetoric analysis
General readers interested in nineteenth-century American cultural history who are willing to read the original

Not a good fit for

Readers new to English poetry who need line-by-line translation and notes
Readers who want only Holmes's most famous single poem and not a whole volume
Readers who prefer contemporary subjects and free verse

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and the opening lines of the longer poems to judge which merit close reading and which can be skimmed.
For each poem read closely, note the rhyme scheme and key words, building a sense of Holmes's recurring images and allusions.
Read short pieces on the same theme together and compare differences in tone and treatment.
For teaching, choose a poem of moderate length with clear meter as a model for close reading in class.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I read Volume 05 without having read the earlier volumes?

Yes. Although the volumes belong to the same collection, most are independent poems and need not be read in order. Starting with this volume will not break any narrative continuity, though you will have less sense of how the author's style developed overall.

Is this volume suitable for practicing reading aloud in English?

Yes. Holmes pays attention to meter and rhyme, and his sentences are of moderate length, so a clear rhythm can be felt when reading aloud. It is best to start with short poems, mark the stresses and rhymes, and then practice aloud; this works better than silent reading.

What should I do about unfamiliar names and places in the text?

You can skip them at first and grasp the general sense of the lines; if they hinder understanding, consult materials on nineteenth-century American history and culture. The public-domain electronic text is easy to search, and you can also supplement it with notes from other selected editions.

How should I choose between this volume and Volume 04?

Volume 04, titled "Songs in Many Keys," leans toward lyric and occasional verse; this volume is more varied, with both long and short pieces. If you want to start with accessible short poems, begin with Volume 04; if you want a more comprehensive textual analysis, this volume is more suitable.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 Author

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) was an American writer whose 34 works are included in this collection. His representative works include The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, The Professor at the Breakfast-Table, and The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, as well as The One Hoss Shay and several collections of poetry. These works show him at home in both prose and verse: he is known for informal essays in the manner of breakfast-table talk, witty and observant, blending discussion with humor; his poems are carefully crafted and lively in rhythm, often carrying domestic humor and reflective notes. He also wrote on Ralph Waldo Emerson, showing his attention to the thinkers of his day. Public information is limited, so biographical details are not developed here; readers may sense his style and influence through the works mentioned above.