Two Becoming One

One of the few clearly decipherable themes in the poem is the idea of two becoming one. This is the story of the relationship between the phoenix and the turtledove. They are, or rather were, in many ways opposites. The turtledove is a real bird, while the phoenix is fictional. The turtledove is characterized as male and the phoenix as female. The phoenix lives forever, while the turtledove is mortal. However, in every way, these changes have disappeared before the poem begins, allowing the two characters to merge into a single being.

As is the case in the characterization of heterosexual love in most Elizabethan literature, the male and female unite to become one. There is a recurring image throughout the literature of the period of heterosexual love as a union between two opposites, thus uniting in one whole. The pinnacle of this love...