I had never heard that. I wonder if it was a sonnet?
The sonnet of a girdle wearing turtle,
he took great pains to honor his large pride,
though everybody thought his name was Myrtle,
exposed himself and left them all tongue-tied.
Dale
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
Wiki says it's widely considered to be one of his most obscure works.
Fitting, .
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 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.
Threnos.
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.
billy wrote:welcome to the site. make it your own, wear it like a well loved slipper and wear it out. ella pleads:please click forum titles for posting guidelines, important threads. New poet? Try Poetic DevicesandWard's Tips
The Phoenix and the Turtle - they embody Fire and Air, as opposed to Earth and Water. Shakespeare must have been an alchemist. This poem seems to be in code - and it must be the dove, or love, the fifth element, that works to bring the separate together.
The second half is written in trochaic tetrameter with 3 rhyming lines per stanza per stanza. The first part is composed of four line with trochaic tetrameter, but an abba rhyme scheme, very unlike the Bard.
The problem is the turtle in this poem is the turtledove, not the turtle who lives inside his shell. However congratulation for finding one of the most obscure poems by Shakespeare. It obviously has more layers than merely the superficial. The form doesn't seem Shakespearean, but the theme(s) seem in line with his other writings.
Tired, brain shutting down, must go connect myself to energy portal.
dale, the hard shelled
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
I liked your poem although the ending did throw me off. With that being said, I also don't really understand the meaning behind it but if that's your intention, I guess there's nothing to change.
TE your allowed to comment on my poems anywhere, and I would appreciate if you did. I'm nit sure why you thought you weren't.
Thanks,
Dale
loocerie,
The meaning behind it is fairly simple. The reader is suppose to assume that what is being described is about humans, until they get to the punch line and find out it was about turtles. Nothing deep or special here, just a little poem joke. I guess you would call it misdirection.
Kinda like the joke: "She opens for him, tentatively as it is her first time. He immediately begins to drill her, she moans..in pain and fear, not realizing it would hurt this much. Plus all the blood, it made her sick. She never understood how this would be. It was her first visit to the dentist."
Not a great retelling but you get the idea.
Dale
NC, thanks for the comment,
Do you mean fussy because of the enjambment/ambiguity? My idea was that it would help keep a person occupied until they hit the punch line. Or are you meaning something else?
Dale
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
.
