The Chambered Nautilus Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBBCC DDEEEFF GGHHHII JJKKKBB LLMMMJJ| THIS is the ship of pearl which poets feign | A |
| Sails the unshadowed main | A |
| The venturous bark that flings | B |
| On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings | B |
| In gulfs enchanted where the Siren sings | B |
| And coral reefs lie bare | C |
| Where the cold sea maids rise to sun their streaming hair | C |
| - | |
| Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl | D |
| Wrecked is the ship of pearl | D |
| And every chambered cell | E |
| Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell | E |
| As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell | E |
| Before thee lies revealed | F |
| Its irised ceiling rent its sunless crypt unsealed | F |
| - | |
| Year after year beheld the silent toil | G |
| That spread his lustrous coil | G |
| Still as the spiral grew | H |
| He left the past year's dwelling for the new | H |
| Stole with soft step its shining archway through | H |
| Built up its idle door | I |
| Stretched in his last found home and knew the old no more | I |
| - | |
| Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee | J |
| Child of the wandering sea | J |
| Cast from her lap forlorn | K |
| From thy dead lips a clearer note is born | K |
| Than ever Triton blew from wreath d horn | K |
| While on mine ear it rings | B |
| Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings | B |
| - | |
| Build thee more stately mansions O my soul | L |
| As the swift seasons roll | L |
| Leave thy low vaulted past | M |
| Let each new temple nobler than the last | M |
| Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast | M |
| Till thou at length art free | J |
| Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea | J |
Oliver Wendell Holmes
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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