The Phoenix and the Turtle

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 2.2K words
Chapters: 1

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Phoenix and the Turtle by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 1, 1998

Editor's review

The Phoenix and the Turtle is one of Shakespeare's shortest yet most densely resonant poems, building a parable of fidelity, purity and ending out of the mutual self-sacrifice of the phoenix and the turtledove. Its language is compressed and its imagery obscure, and it is often counted among Shakespeare's more difficult works—which is also why it invites repeated reading. The poem includes an elegiac chorus that sets love and death side by side, giving it a solemn and mournful ceremonial quality. For Chinese readers, this electronic edition preserves the English original and serves well as a base text for comparative reading; used with notes or an introduction, it better reveals the layers of its rhetoric. It suits quiet, close reading at a desk rather than a quick commute read: first read it through for rhythm, then unpack the imagery stanza by stanza, and finally look back at the overall structure. If you are studying Shakespeare's poetic craft, Renaissance ideas of love, or simply want to see another side of Shakespeare beyond the plays, this small book deserves an uninterrupted stretch of time.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want to know Shakespeare's poetry and are not satisfied with the four great tragedies
Learners with some English reading ability willing to read the original closely
Researchers interested in Renaissance views of love and metaphorical rhetoric
Instructors of English and American literature who need a short text for classroom analysis

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting dramatic stories with twisting plots and vivid characters
Readers with weak English and no notes who want an easy read
Beginners who prefer modern vernacular translations and do not want to engage with the original

Reading tips

Read through once without notes, jot down first impressions and puzzling images, then go back and check them.
Copy out the phoenix's and the turtledove's sections separately and compare changes in image and tone.
After finishing, try summarizing the poem's main idea in one Chinese paragraph to test whether you have truly grasped its structure.
If time is limited, read the elegiac chorus first, then go back to the preceding dedication section.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Roughly how long is this poem, and how long does it take to read?

The poem is very short; reading the original straight through usually takes only about ten minutes. But its imagery is dense and its language obscure, so if you read closely stanza by stanza with notes and take notes, set aside one to two hours and preferably finish in two or three sessions.

Can I read this electronic edition if my English is poor?

This electronic edition is the English original, with no built-in Chinese notes or translation. Readers with weaker English should prepare an authoritative annotated edition or a Chinese translation to read alongside; otherwise they may get stuck on metaphors and archaic expressions and miss the poem's overall structure.

What is the relationship between this poem and Shakespeare's plays?

It is a poem outside Shakespeare's plays; its style shares something with the soliloquies and lyrical passages in the plays, but generically it is a short allegorical poem. Reading it helps understand how Shakespeare handles love, fidelity and death in extremely compressed form, and it can be read alongside related passages in the plays.

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About the author

William Shakespeare Author · English · 1564–1616

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was the greatest playwright, poet and actor of the English Renaissance. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he is known as the "Bard of Avon." He wrote roughly thirty-seven to thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and narrative poems. His representative works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. His works span tragedy, comedy and history play, distinguished by rich, poetic language and profound characterization. His explorations of human nature, power, love and fate have had a lasting influence, and his works have been translated into many languages and circulated widely around the world.