This 1872 instalment in Holmes’s popular Breakfast Table series is a fluent, gossipy exchange among the poet of the title and his breakfast companions—with the lion's share of conversation belonging to the poet, who delivers his somewhat eccentric and fitfully amusing opinions of books, people, and habits of thought. Written fifteen years after the start of the series, The Poet takes a comparatively calm and nostalgic tone.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. A member of the Fireside Poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He was also an important medical reformer. In addition to his work as an author and poet, Holmes also served as a physician, professor, lecturer and inventor and, although he never practiced it, he received formal training in law. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)