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Deacon's Masterpiece, The; Or, The Wonderful “One‐Hoss Shay,”

The Oxford Companion to American Literature | 1995 | 635 words | Copyright

Deacon's Masterpiece, The; Or, The Wonderful “One‐Hoss Shay,” poem by Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast‐Table, was first published in the Atlantic Monthly (1858). In its rhymed four‐stress couplets, anapests are frequently substituted for iambs, and a humorous effect is derived from the monotonous rhyme and absurd rhythm. A parable of the breakdown of Calvinism, the poem tells of a deacon who wanted a carriage that would never break down, so that he built all of its parts with equal strength. Exactly a century after the construction of this masterpiece, the whole work fell apart at once.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Deacon's Masterpiece, The; Or, The Wonderful “One‐Hoss Shay,”." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Deacon's Masterpiece, The; Or, The Wonderful “One‐Hoss Shay,”." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-DcnsMstrpcThrThWndrflnHss.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Deacon's Masterpiece, The; Or, The Wonderful “One‐Hoss Shay,”." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-DcnsMstrpcThrThWndrflnHss.html

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