Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894). U. S. author.  A professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard (1847-1882).  Through the brightness of his wit makes Holmes one of the most entertaining of writers it is his deep kindness that gives to what he has written an even greater power and attractiveness.  More than all else, he tried both in his writings and in his everyday living to drive away the shadows of all kinds of suffering, and to share with others the cheerfulness of his own genial nature.

    Oliver Wendell, Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935). U. S. jurist and Supreme Court justice (1902-1932).  One of the most influential justices in Supreme Court history, he combined his legal scholarship, philosophical mind, and fine literary style to form and express opinions that have shaped and changed the American concept of law.

The Chambered Nautilus
by Oliver Wendell Holmes

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Build up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

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
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

    Reading widely opens the door to recognition of many allusions. If a person is unacquainted with the Bible, whole sentences might be quoted and pass without recognition; if he has never read the stories of classical mythology, the names of Mars and Minera would suggest nothing; and to a person who does not know the history of the United states, the sentence "We have met the enemy and they are ours" would have little significance.  In The Chambered Nautilus allusions are numerous:

    In the first line, "ship of pearl" alludes to the belief of the old-time mariners that the nautilus rose to the surface of the water and spread its tentacles, "purpled wings," like sails to the breeze.

    In the fourth line comes the phrase, "where the Siren sings." for an explanation of this, one must go to the dictionary or encyclopedia or to some book where the stories of Grecian mythology are to found.

    Iris was the beautiful Greek goddess, the swift-flying attendant of Juno, who passed invisible through the heavens but left behind her, to show that she had passed, the brilliant many colored train of her robe, which we now know was the rainbow.

    The last line contains the most vivid allusion.  Many a great cathedral with a vast, resplendent dome is a new temple nobler than a preceding one.

    The significance of the entire poem rests on the fact that the little mollusk builds its shell in spiral form, increasing its size year  by year.  Thus we do too, by reading, trying to write poetry, and otherwise enjoying that which our God gave to us freely, but with stewardship.

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    Bernie Howe is a wonderful "Irish" friend.  We met in the now "reorganized" GeoCities hood of Heartland  when they were acquired by Yahoo and  share many common interests and concerns.  Bernie's love of poetry emerged at an early age and is tempered by his rich Irish heritage. 

A Strong Feeling In My Heart!
by Bernie Howe

There is something drawing me,
to a place I've never been.
A land that's a part of me,
and something from within.

It may be from another time,
when I was not around.
But it is drawing me,
in a way that's so profound.

To you it is a mystery,
why this should be so strong.
But in my soul I know this,
it's where my heart belongs.

The legends and myths,
are always in my mind.
And there I need to go,
to see what I shall find.

If for no other reason,
than to see what is a calling.
The time has come upon me,
to stop all this here stalling.

For Ireland is calling me,
to see its emerald shores.
For my ancestry is calling,
and sometimes it truly roars.

I guess its like a favorite son,
that is drawn back to his land.
For this is not something,
that I can understand.

But it is truly out there,
and begging me to come.
It is the birth place,
of my dear and loving mum.

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