- Introduction
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- Task
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Answer the Unit 4 Notes as you review the lesson.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894) obtained a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1836. He practiced medicine in Boston. Later he began teaching at his alma mater and served as Dean as well.
He was twenty-one when he wrote "Old Ironsides," as a patriotic protest when he heard of the decision to destroy the ship the USS Constitution. The poem was written and printed the next day in the Boston Daily Advertiser after Holmes had read an article about the Navy's plan to demolish the ship.
"Old Ironsides" is a lyrica poem that expresses deep personal feelings in a way that is song like poem.
Would this poem have changed your mind about demolishing it? Holmes developed the ship into a symbol of patriotism. He used reverse psychology, better know as verbal ironysaying one thing but meaning the other , to show its importance.
"Ay, tear her tattered ensigna flag that is flown on a ship to show what country the ship belongs to down
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky"
In other words, take down the sail because the ship is old. There used to be happy people cheering on her victory, but not anymore. Holmes used tone and imagery to his advantage. He never stated how he felt about the ship, but it's through his voice that he makes a difference. Tone reflects the author's attitude toward his or her audience, characters or narrator, theme, and subject.
The ship was not destroyed. It was placed in a museum in 1930, and it can still be seen today at the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston.
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