The Arena

In 1838, Doctor Holmes accepted his first professorial position, and

became professor of anatomy and physiology at Dartmouth. Two

years later, he married, and took up the practice of medicine in

Boston. In 1847, he returned to his old love, accepting the Parkman

professorship of anatomy and physiology, in the Medical School at

Harvard. While engaged in teaching, he prepared for publication

several important books and reports relating to his profession, and

his papers in the various medical journals attracted great attention

by their freshness, clearness, and originality. But it is not as a

medical man that Doctor Holmes may be discussed in this paper.

We have to deal altogether with his literary career,¿a career, which

for its brilliancy has not been surpassed on this side of the Atlantic.

As a poet he differs much from his contemporaries, but the standard

he has reached is as high as that which has been attained by Lowell

and Longfellow. In lofty verse he is strong and unconventional,

writing always with a firm grasp on his subject, and emphasizing

his perfect knowledge of melody and metre.