The Chambered Nautilus (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes
- First Published: 1858
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Europe or Europeans, Death or dying, Sea or seafaring life, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Life, biological, Animals, Marine animals
The Poem
In the five stanzas of “The Chambered Nautilus,” the poet contemplates the broken shell of a nautilus, a small sea animal which the American Heritage Dictionary describes as “a mollusk whose spiral shell contains a series of air-filled chambers.” In his contemplation, he moves from a metaphorical description of its beauty and lifestyle to the ultimate lesson that it teaches.
The first three stanzas trace the life cycle of the little animal, emphasizing the various stages of its growth and development and its eventual death and destruction. In the...
[The entire page is 1392 words long]
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