Analysis of The Phoenix and the Turtle
William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)
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 makest
With the breath thou givest and takest,
'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 loved, 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 the 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 hath 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.
Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclosed in cinders lie.
Death is now the phoenix' nest
And the turtle's loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity:
'Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity.
Truth may seem, but cannot be:
Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.
To this urn let those repair
That are either true or fair
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.
Scheme | ABBA CDXX EFFE GHXG IDDI JKKJ LMML CNNC OGGO PQQP XCCX LMML HRRN BBX SSS BBB BBB TTT |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011101 10101001 1010101 1111101 1110100 11101 101011 1111111 111010 10011101 1010101 10111 101011 11101 1010101 10100111 0110101 1110101 1011101 11010111 1010101 1010011 1000101 00100111 1111101 1010101 110101 1010111 10111010 1001111 1010011 10110010 1011111 1010111 1000101 1010101 1001101 1011101 1010101 1011111 10001010 10101010 10111010 10011010 1111101 1111 1110101 1111101 1011111 1010001 1010111 11011101 1010100 1010100 1010101 1110101 0010101 1010011 1010100 1110100 1110100 1111101 1011111 1010101 1111101 1110111 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,000 |
Words | 371 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 18 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 67 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 87 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on August 03, 2020
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 1:52 min read
- 45 Views
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"The Phoenix and the Turtle" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/57104/the-phoenix-and-the-turtle>.
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