The Chambered Nautilus Oliver Wendell Holmes. The Chambered Nautilus Oliver Wendell Holmes This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed

The Chambered Nautilus

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Chambered NautilusOliver Wendell Holmes

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed main,-- The venturous bark that flingsOn the sweet summer wind its purpled wings

In gulfs enchanted, where siren sings, And coral reefs lie bare,Where cold sea maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Stanza One Verbatim


Its web of living gauze no more unfurl; Wreaked 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 lives revealed,--Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Stanza Two Verbatim


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 Three Verbatim


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 bornThan 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 Four Verbatim


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 Five Verbatim


We should want to be as the nautilus is throughout the expanse of our lives.The nautilus is not afraid to take chances if they could better its life.It makes the best of the beautiful yet dangerous world it lives in.Nothing gets in its way.

Stanza One Analysis


Even when the nautilus has died, its work and beauty live on within its broken shell.The shell is what it has worked to improve every day of its life until the end.

Stanza Two Analysis


As time passed, the nautilus built on, adding to and improving its previous works.As one beautiful environment was completed, it began building a bigger and better one, leaving the old behind.

Stanza Three Analysis


For these examples we should thank the nautilus, whose life was devoted to labor, only to die in the end.Even after death, its shell delivers the message of how we should live our lives.We should keep the example in mind.

Stanza Four Analysis


We must make ourselves better people as every moment passes by.Pay close attention to the present and future, not so much to the past, only try to improve.If you work to improve, your life will be bettered until you die.Perhaps after that, your example will be remembered and taken on my someone new.

Stanza Five Analysis


• The Chambered Nautilus references Greek Mythology, such as the sirens, Triton’s horn, and seamaids.• The poet sees poetry as the highest expression of the imagination as shown in Line 1: “This is a ship of pearl, which, poets feign.”• The nautilus’ life is an adventure.

Aspects of Romanticism

• The poet looks to the nautilus to discover the best way to live, using a parable.• There is no mention of a god, the nautilus controls his own life.


• The poem displays nature’s beauty, the nautilus shell, as a path to development.• The entire poem places faith in experience.

Aspects of Romanticism II

• The nautilus champions freedom and the worth of individuality.

• There is no mention of a god, the nautilus controls his own life.


• Within the poem is an extended metaphor comparing the nautilus to a ship.• The poet wants to live a successful life.

Last Notes

• The poem switches from talking to the reader in stanzas 1-3 to talking with the nautilus in stanza 4.

• A nautilus is a sea creature living in a spiraling shell.

El fin

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The Chambered Nautilus Oliver Wendell Holmes. The Chambered Nautilus Oliver Wendell Holmes This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, Sails the unshadowed