1. The Chambered Nautilus
A poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes

2. Origin of the word Nautilus: Greek means “to sail”; Nautical: of or dealing with the sea; Nautilus: a shelled sea creature with small tentacles around the mouth; a mollusk
Stanzas 1-3 are addressed to the reader
Stanzas 1-3 focus almost entirely on imagery related to the Mollusk
Observations

3. Attributes of the Mollusk
As a mollusk matures, it creates a spiral of chambers inside its shell.
As a mollusk grows, it closes off its previous shell and inhabits a new shell attached to the old one.
Attributes of the Mollusk

4. Stanza 1 This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,—
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Stanza 1

5. Analysis and Lit. Devices
Where is the metaphor here? What is it comparing?
The Mollusk is being compared to a Ship of Pearl (Not that far-fetched as, like the pearl, the nautilus shell is often used in jewelry
Why describe the Mollusk as venturous?
The Mollusk is on a journey; Metaphor for Life’s Journey
Can you find the Allusion? Where have you seen or heard this before?
The Sirens: Greek Mythology; Sea Nymphs from The Odyssey that lure in sailors
Analysis and Lit. Devices

6. Stanza 2 Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,—
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Stanza 2

7. What is happening to the nautilus in this Stanza? How do you know?
The nautilus comes to the end of its dim dreaming life… The shell is broken and exposed (we can now see the many intricate chambers inside the shell). Words like: gauze, unfurl, chambered-cell, and crypt provide imagery of death and dying and can be seen as connation's of death.
What does the word “irised” represent here?
The inside of the Nautilus shell is often purple or blue and can be seen as an aperture: as in a camera lens or the lens of your eye.
Analysis of Stanza 2

8. Stanza 3 Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.
Stanza 3

9. What ideals of Romanticism are present in the following lines:
“he left the past year’s dwelling for the new”… “stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.”
Our ability to learn more about the world and ourselves by observing nature rather than by making logical calculations through science.
The Acceptance of death.
Trading the old for the new: body and soul
Holmes describes how the nautilus would year after year “spread its lustrous coil” and create a new chamber. It would leave its dwelling place for a new one and close off the past. The nautilus had a “last found home” when it created its final chamber.
Stanza 3 Analysis

10. Stanza 4 Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—
Stanza 4

11. Holmes shifts from speaking to the reader about the nautilus to speaking directly to the nautilus. THE SWITCH!
The poet thanks the nautilus for sending him a message louder than Triton’s trumpet, which is another reference to mythology (Similar to The Village Blacksmith).
Triton: is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. He is the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, god and goddess of the sea respectively, and is herald for his father. He is usually represented as a merman, having the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish, "sea-hued", according to Ovid[1] "his shoulders barnacled with sea-shells".
Stanza 4 Analysis

12. Stanza 5 Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!
Stanza 5

13. What is the final message of this poem represented in Stanza 5
What is the final message of this poem represented in Stanza 5? What ideals of Romanticism are present?
Stanza 5 is addressed to the speaker’s soul.
The message that the chambered nautilus sent to the poet is that no matter how many mansions he builds on earth, each one better than the last, the real mansion is in heaven.
When the time of the poet’s death comes, he knows that he will leave his outgrown physical shell, the human body, behind on earth just like the nautilus.
His soul learns and matures while on Earth until it is released from its earthbound chamber for heaven.
Analysis: Stanza 5

14. Themes? The Switch! Literal: The Life of a Sea Creature
The emergence of the soul from being earthbound to the freedom that comes from arrival in heaven.
By observing the nautilus and by essentially “dissecting” its physical body, the poet discovers a profound spiritual truth. To him the “silent toil” of the nautilus as it struggles to achieve physical growth is symbolic of the human endeavor necessary to the growth of the soul.
Individuals should continually be engaged in building broader and more comprehensive lives, growing with age and experience, and they should be continually concerned with the nourishment of the soul throughout their lifetimes.