The 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 wreathèd 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!

by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) , "The chambered nautilus", from The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, published 1858

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (1867-1944) , "The chambered nautilus", op. 66, published 1907. [cantata: SSAA chorus, alto and contralto soli, piano and organ ad lib.]
by Arthur Farwell (1872-1952) , "Build thee more stately mansions", published 1901, rev. 1929. [SATB, piano]
by John Sylvester Fearis (1867-1932) , "The chambered nautilus", published 1921. [cantata: SATB chorus, medium voice solo, piano]
by George Hugh Gartlan (1882-1963) , "The chambered nautilus", 1910.
by George La Munyon , "The chambered nautilus", published 1906. [low voice, piano]
by Russell Hancock Miles (1895-) , "The chambered nautilus", published 1944. [cantata: SATB, alto and soprano soli, piano or piano and organ]
by Carl F. Mueller (1892-1982) , "Build thee more stately mansions", published 1936. [SATB a cappella]
by (Joseph) Deems Taylor (1885-1966) , "The chambered nautilus", op. 7, published 1914. [cantata: SATB, pian, organ and orchestra]
by Gordon Ellsworth Young (1919-) , "Build thee more stately mansions" [chorus: SATB], from Voices in Praise

Date added to the website: 2004-11-22.

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