The Paper Nautilus

Marianne Moore 1887 (Kirkwood) – 1972 (New York City)



For authorities whose hopes
are shaped by mercenaries?
Writers entrapped by
teatime fame and by
commuters' comforts? Not for these
the paper nautilus
constructs her thin glass shell.

Giving her perishable
souvenir of hope, a dull
white outside and smooth-
edged inner surface
glossy as the sea, the watchful
maker of it guards it
day and night; she scarcely

eats until the eggs are hatched.
Buried eight-fold in her eight
arms, for she is in
a sense a devil-
fish, her glass ram'shorn-cradled freight
is hid but is not crushed;
as Hercules, bitten

by a crab loyal to the hydra,
was hindered to succeed,
the intensively
watched eggs coming from
the shell free it when they are freed,--
leaving its wasp-nest flaws
of white on white, and close-

laid Ionic chiton-folds
like the lines in the mane of
a Parthenon horse,
round which the arms had
wound themselves as if they knew love
is the only fortress
strong enough to trust to.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

49 sec read
134

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABBACX DDXCDXE XFXDFXX XGEXGXX XHXXHCX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 900
Words 165
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 7, 7, 7

Marianne Moore

Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit. more…

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