OTHER POEMS There are others of Shakespeare's poems which have proved quite as difficult to construe satisfactorily and understandingly, as the Sonnets. Strangely enough these poems respond, by yielding the same meaning as do the Sonnets, when the same formula for their solution is applied to them. This corroborating evidence, should it be adduced, should be conclusive in removing all doubt, if any still exists, of the correctness of the interpretation which has been applied to the Sonnets, and to all of them without exception, and which has in no instance failed. How extraordinary it would be, if so much of what Shakespeare has written could be read, by any manner of distortion, and yield the same concealed meaning, and that continually reiterated, unless it had been the purpose of the author to impregnate them with that meaning. If these same writings could be construed to express some other well defined and definite idea or train of thought, it would still be beyond probability that another and entirely distinct thread of construction could be read through and into them, from end to end, unless the hidden thread had been purposely woven in in the composition of the fabric. But it is submitted that no other clear cut and well defined meaning has been, or can be, extracted from these writings, save only the one that has been, and here is, contended for. To emphasize this point: Let any one take Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis, or The Rape of Lucrece and try by any manner of forced construction to find a secret or hidden meaning concealed therein that can be followed through them, or any considerable part of them,-for instance, let it be shown, however subtly, that wine and its effect are the burdens of these poems, and it will soon be seen how difficult, not to say impossible, is the effort. Can it be considered possible, then, that a scarcely secreted vein of hidden meaning, in its long course, and which can anywhere in that long course be uncovered and found, in fact does not exist, because it is not in the plan and purpose of its creator? Nothing less than plan and purpose could have put it there,chance never creates a consistent design. The poems which it is proposed to review for the purpose of this further exposition, are The Phoenix and the Turtle, selections from, but not all of, The Passionate Pilgrim, and The Lover's Complaint. These will be reviewed in the order named, because it is believed that is the order in which they were written. THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE. This poem was first published in 1601, as one of the poems in Robert Chester's Love's Martyr; or Rosalin's Complaint. Shakespeare's name was appended to this poem, indicating that he was its author. There is very little known concerning the poem, other than the meager facts here stated. The first task in construing this poem is to ascertain as nearly as possible, who or what is the phoenix? and who or what is the turtle dove? Both are birds, one, the phoenix, is altogether fabulous and poetical. It is represented as of great beauty, and of extreme longevity; it prepares its own funeral pile of gums and spices, and with its own wings fans it into flame, and is itself thereon consumed, but again rises renewed and youthful from its own ashes. Whether the myth justifies the conclusion or not, it has become symbolical of immortality and of spirituality. The other bird, the turtle dove, is a common and ordinary wild bird, a native of England, and of many other countries. In this poem it is used to represent the physical or bodily life. It is believed that the poem itself bears out these symbolisms, and represents the spiritual or poetic in union with the physical life. If so, as will be shown, the phoenix is Shakespeare's genius, and the turtle dove is Shakespeare's physical self. (To forestall as to what is contained in the Lover's Complaint: The phoenix is there identified clearly as representing Shakespeare's art.) The poem describes the funeral service over these two 'dead birds,' or the failure of Shakespeare's poetical aspirations. If this point can be maintained, it necessarily follows from the fact that Shakespeare achieved his greatest literary fame thereafter, that the poem must have been produced relatively early in his career, and after he had tasted fame and was assured of his capacity, but for some reason had come to the conclusion that he was not to reach the heights to which his great talents entitled him to ascend that through some lack he had prematurely decayed. |