Reflection: Old Ironsides

The poem that I chose to analyze for this reflection blog was Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “Old Ironsides.” The reason that I chose this particular poem was because it was a very good example of the new writing style of the Romanticism period. It was also easy to comprehend and short, but even though it is short, it is all that is needed to get the point that Holmes was trying to make across.

First off, the poem “Old Ironsides” is about the Revolutionary War warship the USS Constitution. Even though it was not actually made out of iron, it got the name because “the cannonballs of its heyday tended to bounce off its hardwoods with little effect” (Huff 2). Huff also brings up a good point, which is that “the name for the title of this poem not only served as a reminder of the ship’s service record but also invested the ship with a personality” (Huff 2). This idea of personification is one of the characteristics of the Romanticism period. The poem calls for the ship to be set to sea for a burial rather than it being picked apart for its materials.

Even though this is a very short poem, it has many places where it shows that it is definitely a work of the Romanticism period. The first place is where Holmes says “Beneath it rung the battle shout, and burst the cannon’s roar;—the meteor of the ocean air shall sweep the clouds no more.” This passage is a good example of how much detail they went into in their literary works of the time. Also, I noticed that it is evident that the Rationalism period somewhat influenced this poem because Holmes is not thinking completely emotional because he acknowledges the fact that the USS Constitution is not going to sail any more, instead of just being completely irrational.

Writers of the Romanticism period also wrote about the values of patriotism, which is exemplified in lines 9 through 16; “Her deck, once red with heroes’ blood, where knelt the vanquished foe, when winds were hurrying o’er the flood, and waves were white below, no more shall feel the victor’s tread, or know the conquered knee” ( Holmes 9-16 ). Writers of this time period were also known to include various allusions and references to mythology, which Holmes does when he says “The harpies of the shore shall pluck the eagle of the sea!” and “And give her to the god of storms, the lightning and the gale!” ( Lines 17-18 and 23-24 ).

Holmes was trying to convince people to see the historical and sentimental significance in the ship, and he is doing a very good job of if because the way that he writes it makes people, including myself, get passionate about it, even if they have never heard of it before this poem.

Also, as Huff pointed out in his analysis of the poem, Holmes decides to relate the ship to an eagle in line 18, which is another very patriotic symbol, even to this day.


Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Old Ironsides, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1885." Ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Web. 14 Dec. 2011.


Huff, Randall. "'Old Ironsides'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.