Life is Like a Shell.

Holmes begins the poem showing the creature in its glory.  “On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings / In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,”(4, 5).  The color purple, as used for the cloaks of royalty, is used to enhance the creature’s glamour.  In the first line the word ship is used as a metaphor for the shell of the nautilus to put the creature into a situation similar to that of many humans as they sail across the “main”.  The first stanza draws the reader’s attention to the creature’s greatness.

Holmes then shows the creature gone and deceased.  “Wrecked is the ship of pearl”(9).  Ominous words and images are used to give a depressing view of life.  The nautilus is given characteristics similar to that of a boat to give the reader an analogy he can better understand.  The deceased snail’s flesh “no more unfurls” as would a boat that is in good working order.  It is because of the gloom and ruin of the nautilus that the reader is shown the harshness of the life it leads.

As well as the creature’s glory and its being deceased, its life is described to the reader in the third stanza.  “Year after year beheld the silent toil”(15).  The obstacles the nautilus must overcome inform the reader that it is capable of having troubled times as human beings complain about all through life.  “Still as the spiral grew, / He left the past year’s dwelling for the new…”(17, 18).  Throughout the creature’s life it grows up as human beings do.  

The speaker then directly addresses the nautilus.  “Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee…”(22).  A metaphor is used calling the nautilus a “Child of the wandering sea” showing the parallel between the life of a person and the life of the nautilus.  The speaker claims to hear a voice singing.  “Leave thy low-vaulted past!”(31).  Apostrophe is used here to show how human beings and creatures alike try to leave their troubles behind.  “Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast”(33).  The wishes of a person for a paradisal afterlife are shown to question the idea of whether other creatures have such a thing to look forward to.  “Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!”(35).  A metaphor is used comparing the reader’s body to the “outgrown shell” of the nautilus to show the similarities of what a person and the creature are subjected to.  Using many comparisons, the nautilus is informed of the similarities in the life of human beings.    

The poem “The Chambered Nautilus” makes the reader realize how his life can be like that of other living beings.  The different positions the speaker takes help to show the parts of life from different perspectives to give a better comparison of life.  Hopefully we can learn from the life of the nautilus to try and improve the quality of our own lives.