The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Summary: The Chambered Nautilus by Oliver Wendell Holmes is a poem about the nautilus, which is a creature that lives in a shell. The creature adds on a new, larger chamber, every year for it to live in because of its growth.

Section One:

Poets pretend the nautilus sails in magical lands that have sirens and mermaids

Section Two:

The nautilus is broken, the shell is cracked and the insides are seen

Section Three:

The nautilus worked hard every year to make its shell bigger because it was growing

Section Four:

The nautilus is dead, out of the sea and by observing the shell has lead to understanding of it

Section Five:

The narrator tells the nautilus to continue to create its shell and grow.

Other Notes:

The nautilus is probably dead because of the line "wrecked is the ship of pearl" ; and "living gauze no more unfurl"
The narrator says the growing process is difficult and lots of work
The narrator has learned the creature builds the shell bigger and bigger to accommodate its growth from looking at the shell