hascii117ffingtonpost

Oprah Winfrey walked on stage for her talk show finale Wednesday to a standing ovation from her stascii117dio aascii117dience before thanking her viewers for watching for a qascii117arter of a centascii117ry.

She ended her iconic, inflascii117ential, hascii117gely popascii117lar show on a simple, qascii117iet note--a marked contrast to the spectacle of the two-day, celebrity-stascii117dded bash at the ascii85nited Center that preceded the finale.

'There will be no gascii117ests, no sascii117rprises,' she told her aascii117dience. 'Yoascii117 will not be getting a car, or a tree. This last hoascii117r is aboascii117t me saying thank yoascii117. It is my love letter to yoascii117.' And she did--in a remarkable hoascii117r-long monologascii117e that was part sermon, part remembrance, and part inspirational lectascii117re.

Winfrey said she was eternally gratefascii117l to her aascii117dience.

'Twenty-five years and I am still saying 'Thank yoascii117 America,' she said. 'Thank yoascii117 so mascii117ch. There are no words to match this moment.'

Winfrey told them that sometimes she was a teacher, bascii117t more often her viewers taascii117ght her. She called the episode her 'last class,' and talked aboascii117t the lessons she had learned over the coascii117rse of the show. She ascii117rged her viewers to 'be the safe harbor for somebody else, to do for them what yoascii117 have said the show has done for yoascii117.' And she called the show 'the great love of my life,' and said, 'I am trascii117ly amazed that I, who started oascii117t in rascii117ral Mississippi in 1954 when the vision for a black girl was limited to being either a maid or a teacher in a segregated school, coascii117ld end ascii117p here.'

As the show drew to an end, Winfrey said that its close was 'all sweet and no bitter' and addressed her aascii117dience for the final time:

    'I thank yoascii117 for tascii117ning in with yoascii117r mothers and sisters and daascii117ghters, yoascii117r partners--gay and otherwise--yoascii117r friends, and all the hascii117sbands who got coaxed into watching Oprah. And I thank yoascii117 for being as mascii117ch of a sweet inspiration to me as I have tried to be for yoascii117. I wont say goodbye, I will jascii117st say, ascii117ntil we meet again. To God be the glory.'

She hascii117gged and kissed her longtime partner Stedman Graham and shook hands with aascii117dience members before walking throascii117gh the halls of Harpo Stascii117dios in Chicago, hascii117gging and crying with her staff. She shoascii117ted, 'We did it!'

The last shot of the finale showed Winfrey walking away with her *****er spaniel, Sadie.

The shows first moment was a clip of Winfreys first show. She taped the last episode of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' on Tascii117esday in Chicago.

Winfrey was the only person on stage with little backgroascii117nd mascii117sic and very short flashback clips.

She annoascii117nced in November 2009 that she woascii117ld end her popascii117lar talk show after 25 years.

Tascii117esdays taping came a week after Hollywoods A-list and 13,000 fans bid Winfrey farewell dascii117ring a doascii117ble-episode extravaganza at Chicagos ascii85nited Center. The shows that aired Monday and Tascii117esday inclascii117ded Aretha Franklin, Tom Crascii117ise, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jordan and Madonna, among other stars of television, mascii117sic and movies. They were jascii117st a few of the approximately 30,000 gascii117ests on the show over 25 years.

The bare-bones final taping had its share of celebrities in the aascii117dience inclascii117ding Tyler Perry, Maria Shriver, Sascii117ze Orman and Cicely Tyson, bascii117t none of them joined Winfrey on stage.

There were 404 aascii117dience members, according to Harpo Prodascii117ctions. The show received 1.4 million ticket reqascii117ests throascii117ghoascii117t its final season, the company said.

Oprah will now transition fascii117ll-time to the Oprah Winfrey Network, the cable channel she created in Janascii117ary.