Questions and Answers for Old Ironsides
Old Ironsides
What metaphors are found in the poem Old Ironsides, by Oliver Wendell Holmes?
Oliver Wendell Holmes's "Old Ironsides" is three-stanza poem written as a tribute to the frigate, the USS Constitution. Holmes's poem contributed to the move to prevent the ship from being...
Old Ironsides
What is the irony of the tone of "Old Ironsides"?
Old Ironsides is a nickname for a US Navy masted frigate that was named the USS Constitution by the first president of the country, George Washington. The poem was written in 1830, when the ship...
Old Ironsides
What do the second and third stanzas mean in Old Ironsides by Oliver Wendell Holmes?
Old Ironsides was the nickname of a famous United States battleship, the USS Constitution, that fought in the War of 1812. Holmes wrote this poem to protest the news that the ship would be...
Old Ironsides
In “Old Ironsides,” Oliver Wendell Holmes conveys that he believes the ship deserves a better ending than it is...
The lines you quote here are the final lines of the poem, and provide an example for exactly that which you are suggesting: that the ship deserves a more noble death. The poem was written after a...
Old Ironsides
How is the first line of this poem verbally ironic?
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote this poem as a student when he was just twenty-one years old. He had read in the newspaper that the U.S.S. Constitution, nicknamed "Old Ironsides," would be...
Old Ironsides
What are some of the writing techniques used in "Old Ironsides"?
For "Old Ironside" if you have to choose just one writing technique, I would focus on either imagery or verbal irony because Holmes relies heavily on both devices. For imagery, consider all the...
Old Ironsides
What does the ship in Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Old Ironsides" represent?
Oliver Wendell Holmes read in the newspaper that the frigate, USS Constitution was going to become scrap metal. The navy was going to dispose of the ship that was one of the six original frigates...
Old Ironsides
What event involving Old Ironsides took place during the war?
"Old Ironsides" is the nickname of the USS Constitution. She is a three-masted frigate commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1794 and named by George Washington. The USS Constitution protected American...
Old Ironsides
What are the Harpies in line 12 of Old Ironsides?
Harpies have also been hypothesized to be seals which lie on the shore and "bark" at those who pass. Most likely, however, they are the people who are against the ship's survival--the...
Old Ironsides
What caesuras can be found in Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "Old Ironsides"?
A caesura, plural caesuras or caesurae, is a type of pause in a line of poetry. Such a pause can occur either towards the beginning, in the middle, or towards the end; however, a caesura cannot...