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This section contains 676 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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Old Ironsides Summary & Study Guide Description
Old Ironsides Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:
This detailed literature summary also contains For Further Study on Old Ironsides by Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Old Ironsides Poem Summary
Preview of Old Ironsides Summary:
Lines 1-4:
The first stanza meditates on the ship's "ensign," or the naval flag that flies upon its mast, as a symbol of the Constitution herself. Though not invented by Holmes, "Old Ironsides" is a metaphorical nicknameironclad vessels did not come into use until the Civil Warand like the "tattered" flag, the ship has survived much adversity. Also like the flag ("Long has it waved on high"), the ship occupies a lofty positionnot physically, of course, but in the imagination. Because of its role in history, the Constitution is in the national consciousness a symbol for the "higher" virtues for which the republic is thought to stand. One such virtue is freedom, and in the early days of the United States the concept of freedom was closely associated with the two wars against Britain. Thus the ship is an important symbol to the many Americans whose eyes have "danced to that banner...
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This section contains 676 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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