A repetitive cycle it is. At one point of the cycle, it may be hard to move on. To look at the past and try to move on is an obstacle one faces as they grow up. Nature can be beautiful if an individual knows how to live along with it. As seen in the poem, “The Chambered Nautilus,” Oliver Wendell Holmes traces the life cycle of a nautilus, emphasizing the various stages of its growth and development as well as its death. The nautilus, a cephalopod mollusk with a light external spiral shell and numerous short tentacles around the mouth, swims and travels along with the beauty of nature in the open sea. In this poem, Holmes portrays that the value of nature is to teach individuals to grow up and expand, to hope that life will improve and become …show more content…
A message of the value of nature is to teach individuals to improve and gain more knowledge. The speaker figures that the nautilus encounters death, which is part of destruction in nature. The speaker states, “Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, / Child of the wandering sea, / Cast from her lap, forlorn! From thy dead lips a clearer note is born/…/ While my ear it rings…”(lines 21-27) The speaker is directly thanking the nautilus for the “heavenly message”. As the speaker has seen the nautilus moving from the past life, he is thanking the speaker for this message. Holmes is telling the reader that the chambered nautilus brings the answer to what the value of nature is. The answer is a message that shows that in life there will be destruction and the act of moving on. “Child of the wandering sea” is a metaphor towards nature and how the world is mysterious like the nautilus that will be wandering and does not know what the future beholds. However, one does know that the cycle of nature is repetitive and no doubt one will improve through change and time. The nautilus dies and “from thy dead lips a clearer note is born.” A note that demonstates that eventhough the nautilus has died, one must move on in life. Similar, compared to today’s society, after nature destroys a beautiful scene, “a clearer note is born.” After a terrible …show more content…
As the nautilus changes and grows up, the chambered nautilus learns to leave the past behind. Through change, the value of nature proves that change can produce a new sense of well-being. The speaker is addressing himself as well as individuals to teach individuals to leave the past behind. Holmes