The Paper Nautilus Essay Questions

Why does Moore allude to Hercules and the second labor?

On the surface it seems like a strange allusion, but critic Jeanne Heuving elucidates it nicely for readers: "The strength of the eggs to free themselves is emphasized by comparing them to Hercules who, although 'bitten by a crab loyal to the hydra,' succeeded in killing the hydra. The paper nautilus as both crab and hydra, keeps her young eggs from hatching too easily, lest in reaching their full size too quickly they are hindered to succeed, rather than hindered [in order] to succeed." Thus, the nautilus is the crab and the hydra and the eggs are Hercules, and in her love for her eggs she knows that she must prohibit them from doing what they might want to do until she is sure they are ready.

Why does Moore choose an argonaut for her depiction of intense motherly love?

Moore didn't need to venture into the sea to find an example of obsessive love; after all, her relationship with her own mother is well known for its intensity. However, choosing the argonaut allows her to avoid such obvious and one-dimensional personal reference. The argonaut is a good choice because she makes her shell, she has eight legs that she wraps around it, she covers the eggs with her physical body, and the eggs break the shell when they leave. All of this is an excellent metaphor for a mother's love, without being too obvious. It also allows for different interpretations, which are discussed in the next essay question.

Could the nautilus also refer to Moore's poetry?

The main way of interpreting the poem is that it is about a mother's intense and beautiful love for her children, but the abstruseness and ambiguity of Moore's work always allows for multiple interpretations. Here it seems like it could also be possible that the nautilus is the poet herself, and that she constructs a "shell" of her poetry. She obsessively watches over it until it is ready to go out into the world, but when it finally does so it leaves the safe fortress and is now subject to all the vicissitudes of life far from her protecting arms. A.K. Weatherhead writes, "The paper nautilus is in a sense the poet herself who, working indeed with paper, constructs a form, a part of herself, in which to foster and deliver her ideas...In such a way the poem expresses with extreme reticence the complex of personal feelings, conflicting senses of freedom and deprivation, that attend the poetic act."