Deciphering Shakespeare's "Turtle"

SHAKESPEARE’S
“The Phoenix and the Turtle”
[spelled original 1601 Old Style; underline letters or words added]
Commentary in [ ]s

Below is a brief "OE Decipher Commentary: On Shakespeare's "Turtle" poem:
“THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE"

Let the bird of loudest lay
On the sole Arabian tree
Herald sad and trumpet be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey.

[“lOudEst lay"] = there are various types of “lays”--or types of poetry, featuring repetitive phrases; the most famous of which is probably the VERlay. Current University sources readily available on internet, suggest the idea that the name “verlay” came from the etymological root of “ver” or “green”, as in Spring, is, we are assured “absurd.” Notwithstanding that, I have chronicled that in Certain Notes (1575) Verlays are mentioned and Arte of English Posie (1589) Ignoto, speaks of the same etymological derivation.

“sOlE Arabian tree” = the Arabian tree is the tree of the PhOEnix. In the next line, trumpets of sadness, to whOsE SOUND the true or “chaste” wings of pOsEy ObEy!]

But thou shrieking harbinger,
Foul precurrer of the fiend,             [precurrer=forerunner]
Augur of the fever's end,
To this troop come thou not near.

[The augur of Death, is the augur of “fEVER”S END”—don’t cOmE near!]

From this session interdict
Every fowl of tyrant wing,
Save the eagle, feather'd king;
Keep the obsequy so strict.

[keep away all the "fowl" of tryant wing, except the eagle, he will keep the ObsEquy strict!]

Let the priest in surplice white,
That defunctive music can,                   [defunctive = funeral]
Be the death-divining swan,
Lest the requiem lack his right.

[the swan is presiding over the affair, and has the right]

And thou treble-dated crow,                [treble-dated=lives 3 lives]
That thy sable gender mak'st
With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st,
'Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.

[amongst them, he will go, as OnE of the “mOunErs”]

Here the anthem doth commence:
Love and constancy is dead;
Phoenix and the Turtle fled
In a mutual flame from hence.

[Yes, the anthem starts, cOmmncEs, lOvE is dead;
PhOEnix and Turtle, gOnE, nOnE.]

So they lov'd, as love in twain
Had the essence but in one;
Two distincts, division none:              [distincts= distinctions]
Number there in love was slain.

[lOvE in Twain, essence OnE, 2 parts, nOnE division.
Number or, OnE, but lOvE was surely killed!]

Hearts remote, yet not asunder;
Distance and no space was seen
'Twixt this Turtle and his queen:
But in them it were a wonder.

[Hearts remote, but “not asunder” –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. [same as “two are one”]

[lOvE in PhOEnix sight OthEr’s mine.]

Property was thus appalled                  [“Property”=essential quality]
That the self was not the same;
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was called. [Phoenix live and die, of itself]

[Self not same, single natue’s name “dOublE”—
was not two nor OnE—no longer had a name! IT WAS KILLED]

Reason, in itself confounded,
Saw division grow together,
To themselves yet either-neither,
Simple were so well compounded;            [well-compounded]

[Now maybe EO, the reverse of OE, ought to come into the picture, in the form of rEasOn!. Yes, and “reason” itself is confounded—it saw “division grow tOgEther—yet can’t be made out/the “either” from the “neither” BECAUSE “simple” the “simple truth” was so well hidden, so well “compounded” in the word. The difference in “either-neither” is one letter, the ‘n” letter—this allows “hiding” easy, because in OnE many things can be hidden.]

That it cried, "How true a twain
Seemeth this concordant one!
Love has reason, reason none,
If what parts can so remain."

[Now we’re here. It cried: “How Vere a Twain, this “concordant” OnE! Yes lOvE has rEasOn, but reason, with an “n” is OnE, not “none.” This is true if OnE can part something of lOvE and have it remain in parts.]

Whereupon it made this threne [threne=dirge]
To the Phoenix and the Dove,
Co-supremes and stars of love,
As chorus to their tragic scene:

[the DOvE and the PhOEnix, co-supremes, now sing a song, below]


THRENOS [= Dirge]

Beauty, truth, and rarity,
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclos'd, in cinders lie.

[ ‘ere EnclOs’d in cinder 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.

[Veritas, truth, may be “seen” or “read”? but,
He cannot be, because it cant be told].

To this urn let those repair
That are either true or fair;
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.

[Best to just give a sigh and a prayer, for all of us “dead birds.”]


Finis