Caleb Schwenk HDC English 3 Crabtree 2/13/2023 The Deconstruction of “Old Ironside” and its meaning The Poem “Old Ironsides' ' is about a ship that the author would rather have sunk instead of letting it be torn up. Old Ironsides was the name given to the U.S.S. Constitution, it was given to her during battle with the British in 1812. Old ironsides was written by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. in 1830. The author read about the decommisioning of the Constitution and was shocked by the news it would be scrapped, so, he wrote this poem to protest the descision (Novick, 4).
Short Summary of Book: The book offers various poems talking about the Civil War. It tells how the war has changed people and the things they had to endure. A very informational text about the war from different perspectives. Brief Evaluation of quality: I think this book presents original ideas in a poetry format. It is relevant to students because it gives them information about the civil war.
A firm and unbroken belief in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. To overcome all objects in the way. This is perseverance. As a New Critic, this line can be broken down and analyzed for its use of allusions, word choice, and importance as a whole to the theme of the poem.
She watches from her dreams as the waves crash and fall, carrying with them the ship. An image comes to mind. A hand at sea, although it could mean a shiphand, is an impossible rising area of water shaped as a hand, it waves the ship both literally and figuratively toward its destination, which is no longer sleep, but land. Progression in the poem is apparent. I feel intrigued and mesmerized, simply wanting to know where else the poem travels.
For example, the poem reads, “Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore” (Thayer 34). This is told from the third person perspective. Overall, I believe that the purpose of this poem was to tell a timeless story of something that almost every American can relate to:
The Execution of Romanticism in “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is one of the most thought-provoking Civil War stories written in the 19th century. In this story, Bierce digs his pen into philosophical questions about “the nature of time and the nature of abnormal psychology” (Logan 102). Yet because of the story’s multifaceted poignancy, scholarship has debated whether it is a Romantic yarn, a Gothic tale, or something abruptly more cynical. I will argue that “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is actually a transitional short story that explores how the rise of regionalism and realism during the Civil War led to the death of romanticism.
Everyone battles their own war with different things. As the world evolves over time, we encounter problems similar to “The Seafarer” by unknown Anglo-Saxon and Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” The poems demonstrate sentimental value of a priced possession you eventually lose. Although the poems were written in different time frames, both illustrate the image of man versus time.
After the Civil War, themes in literature such as idealism retained their “title”, but not their previous meaning.
The author utilizes multiple metaphors in the poem to create vivid imagery in readers’ mind about the poem. Additionally, John Brehm widely utilizes nautical metaphors to bring out its intentions. For instance, the poem is entitled “the sea of faith.” The term “Sea” is used to show how deep, broad, and everlasting the act of “faith” can be.
The poem begins with an extended simile about “some brave admiral, in former war / Deprived of force, but pressed with courage still,”. Without any pretence, the poem’s speaker invokes the ambiguous “admiral” of the past, his place in time marked by the temporal marker of “former war.” Despite this the fact that this introduction occurs in a different time from when the speaker is, the admiral’s position is conveyed with a drastic urgency, given he is “deprived of force” yet still full of “courage.” As the admiral moves to survey the “rival fleets,” he operates in a present tense, as he “views” and “renews / His present glory and past delight;”.
In the first stanza, the Mariner’s talks about how the “thousand slimy” sea creatures, rather than going more into detail, she refers to them in a broad and ignorant way. Her attitude proves that she knows that they have done bad and still continue to live on with their lives. Although a terrible action occurred, she admires the beauty found through it in the 2nd stanza. The Mariner is now admiring the “rich attire” and colors of their appearances. The significance the dead bodies she is surrounded by conveys that her soul has now lived on to see all these magnificent things.
The narrator immediately incorporates symbolism insinuating the emphasis on struggle in the first stanza. Symbolizing adversity, she tells the reader “I think by now the river must be thick with salmon. Late August,
Nationalism Nationalism is the belief of being attached to ones nation. It is the political view that your country is great and you strongly believe in nations. The reason why nationalism is good and different from all the other movements is because it keeps your nation together and reduces violence and also keeps the state away from civil war. Nationalism is just like patriotism because they both are individual towards their nation. Nationalism was the most successful form of political force in the 19th century.
The poem begins with the speaker looking at a photograph of herself on a beach where the “sun cuts the rippling Gulf in flashes with each tidal rush” (Trethewey l. 5-7). The beach is an area where two separate elements meet, earth and water, which can represent the separation of the different races that is described during the time that her grandmother was alive and it can also represent the two races that are able to live in harmony in the present day. The clothing that the two women wear not only represent how people dressed during the different time periods, but in both the photographs of the speaker and her grandmother, they are seen standing in a superman-like pose with their hands on “flowered hips” (Trethewey l. 3,16). The flowers on the “bright bikini” (Trethewey l. 4) are used to represent the death of segregation, similar to how one would put flowers on a loved one’s grave, and on the “cotton meal sack dress” (Trethewey l. 17) it is used to symbolize love and peace in a troubled society.
The literary device that seems ubiquitous in this poem is alliteration. The first one found in lines 633-634, “ still brave, still strong/ And with his shield at his side, and a mail shirt on his breast.” The “S” sound is repeated. Another example of alliteration shown is on lines 717-718.
