The Phoenix and the Turtle
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
“Let the bird of loudest lay
On the sole Arabian tree
Herald sad and trumpet be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey.
“But thou shrieking harbinger,
Foul precurrer of the fiend,
Augur of the fever's end,
To this troop come thou not near.
“From this session interdict
Every fowl of tyrant wing,
Save the eagle, feather'd king;
Keep the obsequy so strict.
“Let the priest in surplice white,
That defunctive music can,
Be the death-divining swan,
Lest the requiem lack his right.
“And thou treble-dated crow,
That thy sable gender mak'st
With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st,
'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.
“Here the anthem doth commence:
Love and constancy is dead;
Phoenix and the Turtle fled
In a mutual flame from hence.
“So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one;
Two distincts, division none:
Number there in love was slain.
“Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
Distance and no space was seen
'Twixt this Turtle and his queen:
But in them it were a wonder.
“So between them love did shine
That the Turtle saw his right
Flaming in the Phoenix' sight:
Either was the other's mine.
“Property was thus appalled
That the self was not the same;
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was called.
“Reason, in itself confounded,
Saw division grow together,
To themselves yet either neither,
Simple were so well compounded;
“That it cried, "How true a twain
Seemeth this concordant one!
Love has reason, reason none,
If what parts can so remain."
“Whereupon it made this threne
To the Phoenix and the Dove,
Co-supremes and stars of love,
As chorus to their tragic scene:
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Context of the poem
This poem is basically about the true love between two birds. One is phoenix and other is turtle .The phoenix is a mythical bird that burns into flames after every 500 years and rises again from its own ashes. The turtle (now known as the turtledove) is a bird that typically symbolizes love, loyalty, and devotion. This poem describes the death of the Phoenix and the Turtle who together symbolize ideal love. In the start some birds like owl eagle swan and crow sit together to remember TURTLE and PHOENIX. As the owl and other birds of prey are considered to be a symbol of death so they are banned to sit in that gathering. This poem describes the love of Phoenix and turtle their love makes them into a single being while their individual personality remains same. According to William Shakespeare the love like turtle and phoenix is not possible again. The language of this poem is compressed the meanings of some words are changed. Both birds become one in love and die together in a fire