Old Ironsides

“The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key (1814)

Although separated from Holmes’s poem by a generation, Key’s poem, written as he watched the heroic defense of Fort McHenry in September 1814, can be compared with “Old Ironsides” as expressions of national pride and military determination that both became elements of America’s rising new patriotic culture. Like Holmes, Key draws, ironically enough, on British prosody models to celebrate American military prowess.

“The Chambered Nautilus” by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1858)

Another popular poem by Holmes, this work is a nature parable. The poet sees the heroic efforts of the sea creature as it structures its shell-home against the vicissitudes of nature, the ocean, and time as symbol for every individual’s effort to prevail against tribulations. Much as “Old Ironsides” moves in the closing stanza to an aspirational meditation of mortality, this poem sees nature as teacher and the poet as thoughtful and sensitive student.

“The Building of the Ship” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1869)

Written a generation after Holmes’s ode to the warship, this poem, penned by a fellow Boston Brahmin, explores Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s metaphor of the power, elegance, and majesty of a well-crafted ship.