The Phoenix and the Turtle
1601
This obscure masterpiece stands as Shakespeare's most philosophically daring poem, a 67-line elegy that grapples with nothing less than the nature of perfect love and the possibility of transcendence. Written in 1601 as a supplement to Robert Chester's Love's Martyr, it has been called the first great published metaphysical poem, and that description feels earned. The phoenix and the turtle dove are summoned to funeral rites: the mythical bird of resurrection and the humble emblem of devotion. Their love transcended all bounds of reason and mortality, merging two beings into something absolute and unassailable. The poem weaves through grief and philosophical inquiry, interrogating how truth and beauty can coexist in a single union that surpasses all understanding. It's strange, it's difficult, and it refuses easy interpretation. Four centuries later, it still feels startlingly modern in its refusal to resolve its own contradictions.
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“Love comforeth like sunshine after rain,But Lust's effect is tempest after sun.Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain;Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done.Love surfeits not, Lust like a glutton dies;Love is all truth, Lust full of forged lies.””
— William Shakespeare
“The summer's flower is to the summer sweetThough to itself it only live and die””
— William Shakespeare
“When my love swears that she is made of truth,I do believe her, though I know she lies””
— William Shakespeare
“Amore non è amoreSe muta quando scopre un mutamentoO tende a svanire quando l‘altro s‘allontana.Oh no! Amore è un faro sempre fissoChe sovrasta la tempesta e non vacilla mai;È la stella che guida di ogni barca,Il cui valore è sconosciuto, benché nota la distanza.Amore non è soggetto al Tempo, pur se rosee labbraE gote dovran cadere sotto la sua curva lama;Amore non muta in poche ore o settimane,Ma impavido resiste al giorno estremo del giudizio;Se questo è un errore e mi sarà provato,Io non ho mai scritto, e nessuno ha mai amato.””
— William Shakespeare
“When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see.””
— William Shakespeare
“The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death, and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom.””
— William Shakespeare
“The other two, slight air, and purging fire Are both with thee, wherever I abide; The first my thought, the other my desire,””
— William Shakespeare
“Look what is best, that best I wish in thee: This wish I have; then ten times happy me!””
— William Shakespeare
“Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tir'd; But then begins a journey in my head To work my mind, when body's work's expired:””
— William Shakespeare
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Shakespeare, William. The Phoenix and the Turtle. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-phoenix-and-the-turtle-347e1329-2b62-4152-a434-fa6252d9c1df.Shakespeare, W. (1601). The Phoenix and the Turtle. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-phoenix-and-the-turtle-347e1329-2b62-4152-a434-fa6252d9c1dfShakespeare, William. The Phoenix and the Turtle. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-phoenix-and-the-turtle-347e1329-2b62-4152-a434-fa6252d9c1df.
