Volume 10 227

the Trinity holds that God the Father and God the
Son are of one substance, and many theologians ar-
gue that the Holy Spirit—the third constituent of
the Trinity—is in fact the Word: as the Gospel of
John says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Al-
though many commentators have remarked on the
similarity between the myth of the phoenix and the
story of God and Jesus, here Nemerov brings the
idea of the Word into this equation—and, by omit-
ting the period at the end of the stanza, he also sug-
gests the illimitable, atemporal nature of God.

Themes

Myth
“The Phoenix” is based largely on the Egypt-
ian myth of the phoenix. In that myth, the phoenix
is a bird that lives for hundreds of years, only to
sacrifice itself in fire at the end of its lifespan. From
that fire, a new phoenix is born. Only one phoenix
can exist on earth at a time. The phoenix has tra-
ditionally represented rebirth, because it self-pro-
pogates. The myth of the phoenix also manifests
humans’ ongoing fascination with fire—like an-
other mythological beast, the salamander, the
phoenix is actually comfortable in fire.

In addition, Nemerov emphasizes the self-suf-
ficiency of the bird—it does not need a mate in or-
der to reproduce. In this, the bird is like God, who
created his own son out of his own substance. Ne-
merov emphasizes this aspect of the bird’s life cy-
cle in his line, “Himself his father, son and bride.”
He also notes that the bird “bundles up his sire in
myrrh,” and myrrh, a type of incense popular in the
Middle East in ancient times, is often associated
with the story of Jesus’ nativity. In this, Nemerov
melds the Christian myths of the Trinity and im-
maculate conception with the Egyptian and Classi-
cal myth of the phoenix.

Cruelty/Violence
In “The Phoenix,” Howard Nemerov empha-
sizes the cruel and violent nature of ancient myths.
The phoenix has always represented a frightening
aspect of nature, born out of fire and dying in self-
generated fire. But Nemerov focuses on the more
primal themes of the phoenix myth: the violence of
the bird’s birth and death and the autosexuality of
its regeneration. Using such language as “unholy
lust,” “incest, murder, suicide,” and “cradle of his
bier,” the poet underscores how the terms of hu-
man morality do not apply to the phoenix.

Style

“The Phoenix” is written in three stanzas in a fairly

regular rhythmic pattern. Each stanza contains four

lines; the first and third lines and the second and

fourth lines rhyme. Moreover, each line is a self-

contained entity. Although the poem has no punc-

tuation, most of the lines are grammatically com-

plete sentences and could end with a period: “The

Phoenix comes of flame and dust,” for example, or

“There is never more than one.” Unlike the free-

verse forms that dominated American poetry in the

1940s and 1950s, the regular lines in this poem do

not spill over, grammatically or conceptually, to the

next line. Instead, the lines each make a complete

statement and express a complete idea.

Nemerov uses the rhythm of each line, as well

as the structure of the stanzas, to establish the

meaning of the poem. The lines are based on iambic

tetrameter—each line containing four iambs, or po-

etic “feet,” that consist of one unstressed and one

stressed syllable. Iambic pentameter (five iambs

per line) has traditionally been the preferred line in

The Phoenix

Topics for

Further

Study

• What other literary or artistic works make use
  of the image of the phoenix? Research the his-
  tory of this mythological bird. What has it sym-
  bolized over history? How has it been used?


• Egyptian culture first used the image of the
  phoenix. How did the phoenix function in
  Egyptian mythology? What are other elements
  of Egyptian mythology? Research the pantheon
  of Egyptian gods and on the creation myths of
  Egypt.


• Howard Nemerov takes the form, line, and
  rhyme scheme of this poem partially from the
  well-known American poet Emily Dickinson.
  Who was Emily Dickinson? What did she write
  about? What elements of her poetry are dis-
  cernible in Nemerov’s own poetry? You will
  have to read more of Nemerov’s poetry to an-
  swer this question.