Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Sad PoemsThe Chambered Nautilus
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,
Built 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!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
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!
Overview Short Summary
This poem is useful for poems about letting go of regret because it turns the past into something the soul can outgrow. It does not deny old chambers; it asks the soul to build beyond them.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Letting go: The nautilus leaves each old chamber behind.
- Growth: The soul is told to build more stately mansions.
- Moving forward: The past becomes an outgrown shell, not a prison.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is meditative and uplifting. The mood is hopeful because the poem turns loss into expansion.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
The shell, chamber, archway, sea, and mansion symbolize inner growth.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The poem moves from observation to spiritual instruction.
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!—
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,—act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Overview Short Summary
Longfellow’s poem helps shift regret toward present action. It directly tells the reader to let the dead past bury its dead and act in the living present.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Moving on from regret: The poem tells readers not to live under the dead past.
- Action: The present is the place where change happens.
- Purpose: Footprints show that a life can still become meaningful.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is motivational and firm. The mood is active and hopeful.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Battle, footprints, shipwreck, and sands of time make life’s choices vivid.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The regular quatrains give the poem a marching rhythm.
Up-Hill
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.
Overview Short Summary
Rossetti’s poem does not center on one regret, but it comforts readers carrying regret through life. It says the road is hard, but rest and welcome are still possible.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Healing: The poem offers rest after a difficult journey.
- Life regrets: The traveler’s anxious questions can stand for anyone burdened by the past.
- Hope: The final answer promises beds for all who come.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is gentle and reassuring. The mood is tired but comforted.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
The uphill road, darkness, inn, door, and beds symbolize struggle and eventual rest.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The question-and-answer structure feels like a calm conversation with a wise guide.
Time Does Not Bring Relief
Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year’s leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year’s bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go,—so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, “There is no memory of him here!”
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.
Overview Short Summary
This poem captures the stubbornness of grief and regret after love is gone. It fits poems about lost love and regret because memory follows the speaker even into places where it should not be.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Lost love: The speaker misses the beloved in rain, tide, and remembered places.
- Regret and grief: Time does not bring the relief others promised.
- Memory: Even a place without memory becomes a reminder.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is anguished, honest, and frustrated. The mood is raw because the speaker rejects easy comfort.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
Rain, tide, melting snow, old leaves, and remembered places make grief feel everywhere.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The sonnet form contains a strong emotional turn when the absence of memory becomes memory.
Past and Present
I remember, I remember
The house where I was born,
The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn;
He never came a wink too soon,
Nor brought too long a day;
But now, I often wish the night
Had borne my breath away!
I remember, I remember
The roses, red and white,
The violets, and the lily-cups,
Those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built,
And where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,—
The tree is living yet!
I remember, I remember
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then,
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow!
I remember, I remember
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance,
But now ’tis little joy
To know I’m farther off from heaven
Than when I was a boy.
Overview Short Summary
This poem, often known by its opening line, turns childhood memory into adult sorrow. It fits poems about life regrets because the speaker feels spiritually farther from joy than in youth.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Nostalgia: The repeated memory of childhood shows longing for what is gone.
- Regret in life: Adult life feels heavier and darker than the remembered past.
- Lost innocence: The final line makes the loss spiritual, not only emotional.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is nostalgic and mournful. The mood begins tenderly but becomes deeply sad.
Literary Technique Imagery and Symbols
House, window, flowers, swing, swallows, pools, and fir trees create a remembered childhood world.
Poetic Form Rhyme Scheme and Structure
The repeated “I remember” structure makes memory the engine of the poem.
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