The Phoenix and the Tortoise is the most ambiguous of Shakespeare’s love poems. It was published in 1601 by Robert Chester as part of a collection called “Loves Martyr”.
The format of the poem is as follows. It is divided into two sections, the first section mourning the deaths of the two lovers, the Phoenix and the Tortoise. This section has thirteen stanzas of four lines each. They have a rhythmic scheme of (a-bb-a). The second section is called Threnos and it has five stanzas that have only three lines. In this section the voice of reason also laments the death of the two lovers.
Little is known about this love poem by Shakespeare. It is not very long but it is very vague in its description, which makes it difficult to interpret. Many scholars argue about the meaning of the poem and its purpose. In fact, scholars once debated whether Shakespeare actually wrote the poem. Fortunately, however, most people now agree that Shakespeare himself wrote this poem.
But despite its murky history and enigmatic nature, I will try to give my summary of this poem.
The main characters are the Phoenix (the female bird), the Turtledove (her husband), and at the end there is Threnos, who represents the voice of reason. The Phoenix and the Turtledove love each other completely and truly, but times are changing and their love is the last true love. When they die, true love dies with them, and the poem symbolizes the death of idealized true love in society at the time. Many other birds, such as the raven and the eagle, are later called to the funeral of the Phoenix and the Tortoise, to mourn their deaths. The other birds represent the variety of normal people in society. The raven, for example, represents an ordinary bird or an ordinary person. The eagle can represent the brave and sharp-minded.
The next part describes how love makes two people become one. Shakespeare uses the line “He had the essence but in one”: the spirit of him had become a single being. He then uses another metaphor for the power of love: “Number there in love had killed”, making it clear that love has killed the separation of their souls.
The poem then describes how the two lovers become more and more alike until they become practically the same being. Reason is completely baffled by this, because love does not resist reason.
The Threnos (the voice of reason) then makes his own observation about the phoenix and the tortoise. He describes the couple as “Beauty, truth and rarity. Grace in all simplicity.” The couple dies, leaving no children (the line the author uses is “Leaving no posterity”), because the couple was married but chaste. The Threnos has the same respect for the phoenix and the tortoise, and says that with their death, truth and beauty are buried with them, and he ends the poem, with a plea to those who are true and just, to pray for him. couple that symbolizes everything that is pure in love.
There are many theories about what this Shakespearean love poem symbolizes as a whole. One theory is that the characters in the poem represent some of the Catholic friends Shakespeare had at the time, and the poem is a message of support for Catholicism. Another theory is that the poem actually represents the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Many scholars dispute the various aspects of this poem to this day.
Yet it remains one of Shakespeare’s most mysterious poems. For example, the line, “The property was so horrified, that the self was not the same,” I think shows how vague and mysterious the poem is. I think that Shakespeare himself probably meant him to be vague because the truth and beauty of love that he tries to describe is quite intangible.
If you are looking for a more complex and interesting Shakespearean love poem to read and enjoy, Phoenix and the Turtle is a great one to watch. Although there may not be many romantic descriptions or ideas, it is always good to study the methods of the great romantic writers.