The Chambered Nautilus

In the first stanza, the speaker describes the nautilus as a “ship of pearl” (Line 1), something that may not be realistic, but is rather an illusion created by “poets” (Line 1) who imagine the cephalopod as a nef (See: Background). In the poet’s vision, this ship navigates clear, “unshadowed” (Line 2) waters. The nautilus’s tentacles are described as “purpled wings” (Line 4), which catch “the sweet summer wind” (Line 4) like the sails of a ship. The ocean waters the nautilus lives in are magical and “enchanted” (Line 5). In them, there are “Siren[s]” (Line 5) and “sea-maids […] [with] streaming hair” (Line 7). There is a slight hint of trouble in the idea that the song of the siren might lure the nautilus to the “coral reefs [that] lie bare” (Line 6) where the “cold sea-maids” (Line 7) hint that its death awaits.

That the nautilus has been successfully lured to its death is expanded on in the next stanza. The “living gauze no more unrfurl[s]” (Line 8) and the nautilus is described as “[w]recked” (Line 9). The shell has been torn apart and now “its sunless crypt [is] unsealed” (Line 14), showing the “irised ceiling” (Line 14) of the nacre and the multiple “chambered cell[s]” (Line 10). The speaker imagines the “dim dreaming life” (Line 11) of the nautilus and how he “shaped his growing shell” (Line 12), moving the focus of the nautilus from vessel to human-like substitute.

The speaker then concentrates on the effort the nautilus made to create his shell as “year after year beheld the silent toil / [t]hat spread his lustrous coil” (Lines 15-16). The word “toil” (Line 16) suggests incessant, hard work that is perhaps exhausting. However, the speaker does not believe the nautilus sees it as such. Rather, it is a natural progression to move “with soft step” (Line 19) through the “shining archway” (Line 19) into the new chamber, closing a “door” (Line 20) to section off the last life. That the nautilus finds this a satisfying endeavor is emphasized in how it “stretch[es]” (Line 21) to accommodate its new abode, without feeling regret.

The speaker sees this view of the nautilus as a “heavenly message” (Line 22) sent to him. By observing this shell, “cast from [the sea’s] lap” (Line 24), they are able to hear a “clearer note” (Line 25). This is an even more precise call than “ever Triton blew” (Line 26). Triton, a Greek sea god, is famously portrayed as blowing on a large conch shell to control the waves, the sound so discordant it causes other gods to flee. This line is a direct reference to William Wordsworth’s 1802 sonnet, “The World is Too Much With Us” (See: Further Reading & Resources), which bemoans the lack of faith in a modern age. Holmes’s speaker uses this reference as a segue into a discussion of faith.

Instead of being tired of the world, or feeling overwhelmed, the speaker believes this heavenly voice offers alternatives. It suggests leaning into the present, noting that one grows from struggle. In the closing stanza, the speaker advises readers to not give up trying to better themselves, to “build [themselves] more stately mansions” (Lines 29) as time goes on. The voice, presumably God’s, suggests the speaker leave behind the “low-vaulted past” (Line 31) and pursue the construction of “new temple[s]” (Line 32). Eventually, this will allow one to be “free” (Line 34) in an afterlife, where one has not only “outgrown” (Line 35) one’s shell, but also the need to propel oneself through the daily “unresting sea” (Line 35).