The Chambered Nautilus
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
1809 to 1894
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. Take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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And every chambered cell,
Still, as the spiral grew,
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
As the swift seasons roll!
Till thou at length art free,
While on mine ear it rings,
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Than ever Triton blew from wreathèd horn!
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Child of the wandering sea,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
Before thee lies revealed,—
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
That spread his lustrous coil;
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
Year after year beheld the silent toil
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
And coral reefs lie bare,
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:—
Sails the unshadowed main,—
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
The venturous bark that flings
This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Built up its idle door,
Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,