"The Chambered Nautilus"

"The Chambered Nautilus" is a Romanticism poem because it is, in the literal sense, about nature and can be taken in two different ways, one figuratively and one literally. The poem is literally about a shell that the narrator found and is comtemplating about the shell's past (Holmes). The sea brought the narrator the shell "Child of the wandering sea,/Cast from her lap, forlorn!" and as the narrator looks it over he notices the many "lustrous coils" that the shell has made over the years (Holmes lines 16, 23-24). Science today proves Holmes' statement to be true, as the chambered nautilus does gain one more chamber in its shell (Huff). For being written in 1858, the poem is scientifically accurate. The nautilus eats shellfish and goes to shore at night time (Huff). The cephalopod travels the oceans and Holmes uses that fact with the lines, "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" (Holmes lines 3-6). That also reinforces the fact that this poem is from the Romanticism period as science is backing up the facts, but the poem is not classified as a Rationalist poem because instead of using the facts logically and for reason, Holmes invokes emotion and the peace of nature, indicating Romanticism.

Figuratively the chambered nautilus shell represents the adding on layers or chambers of wisdom, knowledge, and experience to life. After all, to grow emotionally as a person, one has to learn from the past and experience life, or in Holmes' terms:

"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!" (Holmes 29-35)

This can also be interpreted as growing spiritually as the shell is being outgrown "by life's unresting sea" and becoming "free" which symbolizes dying and going to Heaven (Huff). I also believe that Oliver Wendell Holmes is referring to archeology. Finding a chambered nautilus shell and wondering and imagining the life that it lived in the massive ocean is a daunting task. It could have been the king of the chambered nautilus or a mother nautilus who was eaten by a predator. Similar to archeology where archeologists dig up the past and determine what really happened, shells and bones are examined to see what stories can be discovered. The chambered nautilus shell had "irised ceilings" and was a "ship of pearl" (Holmes 1, 14). By the adjectives alone, a majestic, white nautilus comes to mind who goes on adventures rival of those of Jason and Odysseus. Or the nautilus could have been the prettiest girl nautilus, rival of Helen, and gotten all of the boy nautilus. That is the beauty of interpretation, anything is possible. One archeologist might see a skeleton that used to be a brave and noble prince who fought many battles, while another might see the same skeleton but who was a street rat who had to fight to survive. The imagery and figurative language that Holmes invokes allows each reader to have their own interpretation of the chambered nautilus and its adventures in acquiring its chambers.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "The Chambered Nautilus." Bartleby.com. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.

Huff, Randall. "'The Chambered Nautilus'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.