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The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay
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The Deacon’s Masterpiece; or, The Wonderful “One-Hoss Shay”
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The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay

poem by Holmes
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History

The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay, poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes, published in his “Breakfast-Table” column in The Atlantic Monthly (September 1858).

Often interpreted as a satire on the breakdown of Calvinism in America, the poem concerns a “one-hoss shay” (i.e., one-horse chaise) constructed logically and with all parts of equal strength by a New England deacon. Though it is meant to last forever, the vehicle spontaneously falls apart 100 years after it was built.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.