Old Ironsides (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes
- First Published: 1830
- Type of Work: Dramatic monologue
- Genres: Poetry, Dramatic monologue
The Poem
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote “Old Ironsides” in ironic agreement with the news that the famous frigate USS Constitution—nicknamed “Old Ironsides” because of its formidable strength—would soon be demolished. The poem exalts the ship to elegiac status in three octaves (stanzas of eight lines), written in alternating tetrameter and trimeter syllabic accents. Holmes composed the now-famous poem immediately upon reading of the planned demolition in the Boston Daily Advertiser. The report he read, drawn from the New York Journal of...
[The entire page is 1517 words long]
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