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 beginning, the poet likens the nautilus to a ship which sets out to sea—beautiful in its majesty as its sails unfurl to the “sweet summer wind.” He imagines the many wonderful adventures the nautilus has encountered as it challenged the mighty sea, sailing “the unshadowed main.” During its lifetime it ventured into enchanted gulfs and heard the siren songs and has seen mermaids sunning “their streaming hair.”
In the second stanza the poet laments the death of the nautilus, whose shell now lies broken and abandoned on the seashore like the wreck of a once beautiful ship—a ship that will no more “sail the unbounded main.” Like a ship that once teemed with life and now is silent, the nautilus lies lifeless, useless. Just as when a ship is wrecked, the top may be ripped and torn and its interior laid bare for all to see, so the little sea animal is destroyed—its shell broken, its insides exposed, and every “chambered cell revealed.” In the third stanza the poet considers the evolution of the nautilus through the various stages of its life. As it grows, its shell continues to expand in order to accommodate that growth, as evidenced by the ever-widening spirals that mark the shell. The nautilus moves into its new home quite tenuously at first, and for a time it misses the familiarity of its old home. In time, however, the new quarters become familiar and more comfortable.
The fourth stanza is addressed directly to the nautilus, thanking it for the lesson that it has brought him. It is a lesson of great importance, and one which strikes the poet with startling clarity—a message as clear, he says, “as ever Triton blew on his wreathèd horn.” This message is stated in the final stanza of the poem, beginning, “Build thee more stately mansions.” The lesson is that the growth of the human being should parallel that of the nautilus; the individual should continue to grow spiritually throughout his lifetime.
Forms and Devices
The poet employs three major figures of speech, metaphor, personification, and apostrophe, to create the imagery in the poem—images which are at first quite impersonal but which become increasingly more personal as the poem progresses toward its conclusion. This helps prepare the reader for the intensely personal message of the final stanza.
The poet begins with sea imagery, using a sailing vessel as a metaphor for the nautilus. He refers to it as a “ship of pearl,” suggesting not only its beauty and grandeur but also its value as both a living organism and a teacher. The poet’s use of the term “venturous bark,” in reference to the nautilus, evokes images of the majestic sailing ships of bygone days, eager to explore different worlds. His allusions to the songs of the “sirens,” the “enchanted gulfs,” and the coral reefs where “sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair,” all help to reinforce the images of grand and glorious adventures reminiscent of the mythological voyages of the great classical heroes of the ancient world. In the second...
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stanza, the poet continues with the ship metaphor, likening the “webs of living gauze,” by which the nautilus moves, to the sails which move the ship. The beauty and grandeur of this little ship, however, has now been destroyed and will no longer “unfurl” its lovely sails to the wind.
In the third stanza the imagery becomes personal. Here the nautilus is compared to a human being who, when he outgrows one home, abandons it and moves into new quarters that will better accommodate him. This personal imagery is enhanced by the poet’s use of terms usually associated with human behavior to describe the activities of the nautilus. He speaks, for example, of the “silent toil” by which the animal built his new “dwelling,” and the “soft step” with which he entered his new home. Finally, the nautilus “stretched in his new-found home,” expressing its contentment in the same manner as a human being would. The imagery becomes even more personal in the fourth stanza as the poet abandons the use of metaphor altogether and utilizes the apostrophe to address the nautilus directly, thanking it for the lesson it has brought him, even in death. He refers to it as a “child” cast from the “lap” of the sea—thus using personification to establish a mother-child relationship between the animal and the sea, further enhancing the personal tone and preparing the reader for the final message of the poem.
Literary Style
Personification
"Personification," the practice of attributing human traits to nonhuman entities, plays a crucial role in "The Chambered Nautilus." One of the poem's primary extended metaphors likens a nautilus to the human soul. The effectiveness of this metaphor relies on imagery that humanizes the nautilus. Examples of this personification include the notion of the nautilus having a "dreaming life," being referred to as a "tenant," moving with a "soft step," stretching out in its home, and being depicted as a "child" with "lips." These attributes are not literally applicable to a shelled marine creature, encouraging readers to envision the nautilus as human. Holmes employs this technique to convey that the nautilus symbolizes the human experience, as personification helps readers relate to the nautilus on a personal level.
Symmetrical Rhyme Scheme
"The Chambered Nautilus" consists of five stanzas, each adhering to the same rhyme pattern: a rhymed couplet (two lines), followed by a rhymed tercet (three lines), and another couplet. This rhyme scheme, written as aabbbcc, lends the poem a musical quality through its rhythm and flow. While rhyme can link words thematically, Holmes primarily uses it to enhance the poem's musicality rather than for thematic connections.
Alliteration and Diction
Holmes meticulously chooses his language to shape the meaning, rhythm, and structure of his poem. He employs alliteration, the repetition of consonant sounds, such as the d in "dim dreaming life was wont to dwell," to highlight specific words and create a pleasing auditory effect. His diction, or word choice, is also deliberate; it has an antiquated feel (even for 1858) to give the poem an air of eloquence and authority. Additionally, Holmes uses diction to advance his thematic goals, incorporating spiritual language when discussing the human soul and mythological references to evoke a whimsical or "enchanted" tone.
Compare and Contrast
-
1850s: The United States is increasingly divided. Conflicts between
Southerners and Northerners escalate as two presidents struggle to alleviate
the growing tensions over slavery and ideology, inching closer to civil
war.
Today: The United States seems divided once more. Republicans and Democrats hold stark ideological differences, with President George W. Bush's administration known for catering to its ultraconservative base while avoiding a moderate approach. -
1850s: Boston stands as the literary and intellectual center of the
United States, home to the leading thinkers and scholars of the American
Renaissance.
Today: Boston continues to be a significant hub of American intellectual life, housing many top universities. However, New York has grown to be a larger center of literary and philosophical thought. -
1850s: Slavery is legal in Southern states, African Americans across
the country live in poverty and segregation, women are denied the right to
vote, and discrimination against immigrants is prevalent.
Today: The United States legally ensures equal rights for all adult citizens, yet discrimination against minorities persists.
Bibliography and Further Reading
Sources
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, J. M. Dent & Sons, 1960, pp. 88-90, 92.
――――――, "The Chambered Nautilus," in The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975, pp. 149-50, 152.
Macy, John, "Holmes," in The Spirit of American Literature, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1913, pp. 155-70.
Parker, Gail Thain, "Sex, Sentiment, and Oliver Wendell Holmes," in Women's Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1972, p. 49.
Prothero, Rowland E., "A Review of The Writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes," in Quarterly Review, Vol. 179, No. 359, January 1895, pp. 189-206.
Further Reading
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Nature and Selected Essays, Penguin, 2003, originally published by J. Munroe and Company, 1836.
Emerson's first and most influential work on the post-Romantic philosophy of transcendentalism, Nature is a key text in the historical context of mid-nineteenth-century Boston.
Gibian, Peter, Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Culture of Conversation, Cambridge University Press, 2001.
In this significant book about Holmes's role in American history, Gibian offers a literary and historical analysis of Holmes and his intellectual circle.
Hawthorne, Hildegarde, The Happy Autocrat: A Life of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Longmans, Green, 1938.
Hawthorne's biography of Holmes outlines the historical context surrounding "The Chambered Nautilus" and provides a valuable overview of the poet's life and career.
Traister, Bryce, "Sentimental Medicine: Oliver Wendell Holmes and the Construction of Masculinity," in Studies in American Fiction, Vol. 27, No. 2, Autumn 1999, pp. 203-25.
Although it doesn't cover "The Chambered Nautilus," Traister's article offers an intriguing analysis of Holmes's views on gender relations, particularly his concept of male medical authority and its implications for women.
