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Old Ironsides. By Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see. That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst the cannon’s roar;—. The meteor of the ocean air.
- Stanza One
- Stanza Two
- Stanza Three
In the first stanza, the speaker begins by asserting that the ship which is the main subject of the poem, the USS Constitution, should be decommissioned. A reader will soon realize that his statements have a double meaning. His words, while on the surface simply glorifying a ship with a powerful past, are really advocating for its preservation. It ...
In the second stanza, the ship’s history is further outlined. There are no specific details about those who served on this ship or battles it engaged in. Instead, the poet has chosen to romanticize its history to suit his purposes. Those who died on its deck did so as “heroes.” It was their “blood” the “vanquished foe” knelt in after being defeated...
In the final stanza of the poem the speaker declares that since these events will no longer occur, it is better that the ship is destroyed. It should be sunk “beneath the wave.” All of “Her” history should be wiped away and forgotten. As with the previous sections, it is clear the poet does not actually mean for this to happen. He describes the shi...
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- October 9, 1995
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Old Ironsides. Oliver Wendell Holmes. Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see. That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst the cannon’s roar;—. The meteor of the ocean air.
"Old Ironsides" is a poem written by American writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. on September 16, 1830, as a tribute to the 18th-century USS Constitution. The poem was one reason that the frigate was saved from being decommissioned, and it is now the oldest commissioned ship in the world that is still afloat.
Old Ironsides. Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1830. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. Download PDF.
“Old Ironsides” (1830), by Oliver Wendell Holmes, is a dramatic monologue commemorating the U.S.S. Constitution, a frigate launched by the United States Navy in 1797. Holmes published the poem after it was rumored that the ship was going to be decommissioned.
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Old Ironsides. by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! Long has it waved on high, And many an eye has danced to see. That banner in the sky; Beneath it rung the battle shout, And burst the cannon’s roar;—. The meteor of the ocean air.
