What is the meaning of the poem "The Chambered Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes?

Question

The Chambered Nautilus

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.

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!

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 steps its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

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:

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!

Answer 1

The poet finds a nautilus shell, and reflects on the life of the animal, venturing on the unknown adventure of life. He reflects on how, as it grows, it moves into a new chamber, each one larger than the last.

Then this makes him think of his own life, and mortality. And how he moves and grows from one part of his life to the next, until he finally dies, and leaves his shell just like the nautilus.

Just concentrate, reflect on the words, think about the metaphors the poet uses, and you will find much, much more in the poem than I have outlined here.

Answer 2

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RE:
What is the meaning of the poem "The Chambered Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes?
The Chambered Nautilus

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...

Answer 3

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A Nautilus shell is shaped like a spiral and grows as the animal grows and moves to new chambers of its shell. As we go through the cycles of life we should strive to continually improve ourselves making each new phase of our life better than the last.

Answer 4

Waiting on more answers before I share my view

Answer 5

Interesting, I was wondering the same thing myself

Answer 6

Too much detail here.

The "Chambered Nautilus" is a sea creature that has chambers it can fill with gas or water in order to control it's buoyancy. It's an elegant shelled creature that belongs to the Mollusk family.

Try looking it up on wikapedia.

Answer 7

suck my ***