William Shakespeare

Listen to the poem, read by Edith Evans and Donald Wolfitt:

> Click here to read the poem and delve into its meanings with our brief dossier.
>> or click here for a tablet/Kindle PDF of the same dossier.

And do make use of our

Selected bibliographical resources

• Peter Dronke
“The Phoenix and the Turtle” (3.3MB)
An excellent article about the poem. Highly recommended.

• H.E. Rollins Variorum (3MB)
A standard and useful introduction to the imagery of the poem.

• Old English Phoenix Poem (2.3MB)
A medieval poem containing a detailed account of the nature of the Phoenix.

• K.N. Harris, Lactantius Thesis (6.8MB)
An MA thesis on Lactantius’ classical De Ave Phoenice, with much information about the myth in general.

• Chester: Love’s Martyr (17.4MB)
A 19th century edition of the original volume containing Shakespeare’s poem.

• An article by Heinrich Straumann.
This article explores the relation between the poem and Shakespeare’s plays.