“The Phoenix and the Turtle,” first published in 1601, is one of William Shakespeare’s non-dramatic poems. While Shakespeare is most famous for his plays and sonnets, he also wrote a number of shorter poems. Of these, “The Phoenix and the Turtle” is one of the most famous. This was not always the case, however. Until the 19th century, when writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson rediscovered it, the poem was not one of Shakespeare’s most well-known. Emerson called it “the most perfect short poem in any language.” This sparked renewed interest in the poem. While critics and scholars now agree that it is an important poem in Shakespeare’s work, there are many conflicting interpretations about the work’s meaning.
“The Phoenix and the Turtle” is a 67-line allegorical poem. It describes the mystical love between two birds, the Phoenix and the Turtledove (called the Turtle for short). The poem was originally untitled. It was published in a 1601 collection titled Love’s Martyr by Robert Chester. Chester’s contribution is a long allegorical poem dedicated to the same two birds. The Phoenix represents perfection and the Turtle represents devotion. His poem also alludes to the legend of King Arthur and to the history of ancient Britain. Another section of the book is titled “Diverse Poetical Essays.” Besides Shakespeare’s poem, it includes poems by some of the famous poets of the day: Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston. Today, it is only Shakespeare’s contribution that continues to be well-known.
The collection Love’s Martyr was dedicated to Welsh poet and politician Sir John Salusbury, who was granted knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 1601. Seeking to understand the symbolism behind Shakespeare’s poem, some argue that the Phoenix and the Turtle represent Salusbury and his wife Ursula Stanley. In another interpretation, Salusbury is the Turtle while Queen Elizabeth is the Phoenix, as the Phoenix was one of the symbols used for her during her lifetime. Others say that while Elizabeth is the Phoenix, the Turtle is her lover the second Earl of Essex (executed in 1601). In a less-accepted interpretation, the Phoenix and the Turtle represent the Catholic martyr St. Anne Line and her husband. From the poem’s publication in 1601 until the mid-1900s, various attempts have been made to link Shakespeare’s Phoenix and Turtle to real historical figures.
Today, the dominant approaches to the poem no longer try to discover a hidden historical identity for the Phoenix and the Turtle. From J.V. Cunningham’s essays on the poem to the recent scholarship of James P. Bednarz, scholars today focus more on the poem itself. They argue that the poem is not a historical allegory but a spiritual one. As Bednarz argues, the poem is an “allegory of love centered on the mystical union of the phoenix and turtle-dove.” The poem focuses on the mystery of how the Phoenix and the Turtle manage to be both united and separate, single and dual. What makes the poem great, according to modern critics, is its mysteriousness.
