"American Prose Masters."—Brownell.
"James Russell Lowell."—Curtis.
"Essays in London and Elsewhere."—James.
"Nature Knowledge in Modern Poetry."—Mackie.
"Stelligeri, and other Essays."—Wendell.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
(1809–1894)
The "genial Autocrat" was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was the son of a Congregational minister. After graduating at Harvard, he began the study of law, but, like so many other authors, not finding it to his taste, changed to medicine. After finishing his studies in Paris he returned to America, and opened office in Boston. Despite his fondness for literature, he gained a fair practice.
In 1847, however, he was elected Professor of Anatomy in Harvard University, a position he held for thirty-five years. His duties were far from arduous, so that like Emerson, he was able to devote much of his time to lecturing and poetry.