SOURCE: Empson, William. “The Phoenix and the Turtle.” Essays in Criticism 16, no. 2 (April 1966): 147-53.

In the following essay, Empson comments on the puzzling central theme of “married chastity” in The Phoenix and Turtle, and examines the poem's biographical contexts and mystical conclusion.

This exquisite but baffling poem is the only one written by Shakespeare for publication with other poets (Marston, Chapman and Jonson), and his only consistent use of the Metaphysical style. Love's Martyr by Robert Chester, dedicated to Sir John Salusbury (1601, unregistered), came out at the height of the War of the Theatres, when some at least of the contributors were quarrelling, and soon after the execution of Essex, when it was very dangerous to print a riddle which might excite the suspicions of the Queen. Critics often suppose that Shakespeare did not know the Phoenix legend, which everyone knew, or that he did not bother about...