The Chambered Nautilus
E5617
"The Chambered Nautilus" is a reflective 1858 poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. that uses the spiraled shell of a nautilus as an extended metaphor for spiritual growth and the soul’s continual ascent.
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
lyric poem
→
poem → |
| addressedTo |
the reader
→
the soul → |
| author | Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. → |
| centralMetaphor | nautilus shell as symbol of spiritual growth → |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
→
surface form:
United States
|
| culturalStatus | frequently anthologized American poem → |
| famousLine | Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul → |
| firstLine | This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign → |
| form | lyric → |
| genre | reflective poetry → |
| hasImageryOf |
sea
→
shell chambers → shipwreck → |
| includedIn | collections of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.'s poems → |
| inspiredBy | chambered nautilus (marine mollusk) → |
| language | English → |
| literaryMovement | American Romanticism → |
| literaryPeriod | 19th century American literature → |
| meter | iambic meter → |
| moral | the soul should continually grow and ascend → |
| notableFor |
didactic closing exhortation
→
use of scientific natural object as spiritual symbol → |
| publicationYear | 1858 → |
| rhymeScheme | regular rhyme scheme → |
| subjectOf | literary criticism → |
| symbol |
chambered nautilus shell
→
ship → soul → spiral chambers → |
| taughtIn |
American literature courses
→
high school English curricula → |
| theme |
aspiration toward higher ideals
→
immortality of the soul → leaving the past behind → moral and spiritual progress → self-improvement → spiritual growth → transcendence → |
| tone |
didactic
→
inspirational → meditative → |
| usesDevice |
apostrophe
→
extended metaphor → imagery → personification → |
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.