When Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) was
twenty-one years old, he read that the Navy
Department had decided to destroy the old,
unseaworthy frigate "Constitution," which had
become famous in the War of 1812. In one
evening he wrote the poem "Old Ironsides." This
not only made Holmes immediately famous as a
poet, but so aroused the American people that
the Navy Department changed its plans and
rebuilt the ship.

OLD IRONSIDES

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar:--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.

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;--
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!

367

William Collins (1721-1759), English poet,
wrote only a few poems, but among them is this
short dirge which keeps his name alive in
popular memory. It was probably in honor of his
countrymen who fell at Fontenoy in 1745, the
year before its composition. Its austere
brevity, its well-known personifications, its
freedom from fulsome expressions, place it very
high among patriotic utterances.

HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE

WILLIAM COLLINS

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.

By fairy hands their knell is rung;
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
There Honor comes, a pilgrim