The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table

.....Mr. Kellogg ran a stern household............... The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table is a collection of essays written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. The essays were originally published in The Atlantic Monthly before being collected in book form. The author had written two essays with the same name which were published in the earlier The New England Magazine, which are alluded to in a mention of an "interruption" at the start of the very first essay. The essays take the form of a chiefly one-sided dialogue between the unnamed Author and the other residents of a New England boarding house who are known only by their profession, location at the table or other defining characteristics. The topics discussed range from an essay on the unexpected benefits of old age to the finest place to site a dwelling and comments on the nature of conversation itself. The tone of the book is distinctly Yankee and takes a seriocomic approach to the subject matter. As befits Holmes' reputation as one of America's finest poets, each essay typically ends with a poem on the theme of the essay. There are also poems ostensibly written by the fictional disputants scattered throughout.