1a. What mythological allusion does the speaker make in stanza 1 about the nautilus's environment?
2a. What details does the speaker provide about the life of the nautilus in stanzas 2 and 3?
3a. What does the singing voice of stanza 4 tell its listener to build in stanza 5? Why? From what do these structures separate the soul?
4a. To whom are stanzas 1–3 addressed? stanza 4? stanza 5?
5a. In the nineteenth century amateur and professional naturalists sought to codify the natural world. Many new specimens of plants and animals were discovered and analyzed solely in scientific terms. Imagine you were part of Holmes's nineteenth-century audience. Would you have praised or criticized Holmes's poem? Why?
1b. Remember that Holmes was a scientific person, a trained physician. Why do you suppose the speaker in Holmes's poem introduces the shellfish with imagined details instead of using a scientifically accurate description?
2b. In the first three stanzas, how does the speaker give the shellfish a personality? What are some of the details that make the audience more sympathetic toward it?
3b. What is the speaker's "outgrown shell"? When will he leave it behind?
4b. Why does Holmes continually change to whom the poem is addressed? What provides the transition between stanza 4 and stanza 5? What is the theme of the poem?
5b. How does the speaker's attitude toward death in "The Chambered Nautilus" compare with the speaker's attitude in "Thanatopsis"? Which do you value more?
Apostrophe. Review the definition for apostrophe in the Handbook of Literary Terms. Identify examples of apostrophe in the fourth and fifth stanzas. Who or what is being addressed? The apostrophes signal development in the content of the poem. How do the lines that follow the apostrophes differ from those before them?
Stanza. Review the definition for stanza in the Handbook of Literary Terms. Then examine the chart you made using the example in Literary Tools on page 206. What is the rhyme pattern for each stanza?
1. Imagine that you are a contemporary of Holmes. Write the poet a letter, explaining what insight you gleaned about life after contemplating the life of the nautilus in his poem. Use your own paper as necessary.
2. Write the credo of the speaker, based on what you learned about him by reading "The Chambered Nautilus." A credo is a statement of belief, expressing one's most strongly held opinions and values. Use your own paper as necessary.
3. Holmes's poem owes much to the mythology of the nautilus and its compartmentalized shape. Write a paragraph describing how these attributes of the shellfish are significant to the meaning of the poem. Use your own paper as necessary.
Pronouns and Antecedents. Read the Language Arts Survey 3.45, "Getting Pronouns and Antecedents to Agree." Then rewrite these sentences, using pronouns correctly.
1. Long ago, people really believed in myths, but today we see it simply as literature.
2. Still, mythology says something about human nature that makes him more than just old stories.
3. In the Greek myths, sirens are "cold sea-maids," as the poem says, but to us she stands for all sorts of temptations.
4. Everybody knows that they can blame Pandora for the world's problems, for according to Greek myth, she was the one who let all the evils of the world out of a box.
5. Though different cultures call their gods of war by different names, he represents the same weaknesses in all of us—distrust and hostility toward people who are not like us.
Abstract. With a partner, write an abstract of the Holmes poem. An abstract is a brief account of the main ideas presented in a work. In your abstract, try to reflect the tone of "The Chambered Nautilus."
Business Letter. Imagine that it is 1858 and you would like to invite Oliver Wendell Holmes to speak to your literary circle. Write a letter to Holmes, requesting that he accept the honor of addressing your group after dinner.
Encyclopedia Research. Read the material about specialized encyclopedias in the Language Arts Survey 5.20, "Using Reference Works." Then investigate a library to find out which encyclopedias of literature, mythology, and literary terms are available in the reference department. List the title and the particular focus of each. Then look up Triton in two of these encyclopedias and compare the amount and type of information provided.
Types of encyclopedias available
Encyclopedia #1 Information on Triton
Encyclopedia #2 Information on Triton
