The ultimate transformation is the desire of Hester and it's about to come to fruition. The seven years' torture is about to end as the New England Holiday arrives and she is staying out of the view of the public eye as best as she can. Truly, nature has attempted to sooth her guilt and turn everything that has happened into her life troublesome, into a powerful energy, triumph. (T r i u m p h = a seven letter word = complete)
Hester is ready to put this pain to rest, for after this passage, she voices, mentally, "Look your last on the scarlet letter and its wearer! Yet a little while, and she will be beyond your reach! A few hours longer, and the deep, mysterious ocean will quench and hide for ever the symbol which ye caused to burn upon her bosom!"
This is her farewell speech to the letter and her curse, which seems similar to a poem titled "Farewell" which was written by poet Walter de la Mare:
Look thy last on all things lovely,
Every hour. Let no night
Seal thy sense in deathly slumber
Till to delight
Thou have paid thy utmost blessing;
Since that all things thou wouldst praise
Beauty took from those who loved them
In other days.Another interesting thing that has reoccurred is the mention of the letter being swallowed up by the ocean. The ocean is what is said to have killed Chillingworth, so the ocean should hide the symbol away. However, Chillingworth did not die and the ocean cannot hide the symbol because of his presence in the community. Therefore the symbol cannot be hidden, which is what Roger has planned to do with Arthur; make apparent the symbol upon Arthur's chest to the public to watch him suffer.
After researching the poem and the author, it turns out that Walter de la Mare was born AFTER Hawthorne's death, so the connection with the poem is less significant.
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