The Myth of the Phoenix
The Phoenix
The Phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in many mythologies from the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans. The legend of the Phoenix has been around for centuries, it’s a supernatural creature with a life of a thousand years. Once its life is up it will cast itself in flames, and as it dies it will be reborn again from its own ashes. The Phoenix has long been presented as a symbol of rebirth, immortality, and renewal. The Phoenix can be interpreted in various ways; lets explore and define this mythical creature that is reborn from its ashes. What does the Phoenix tell us, we will first explore Amy Clampitts view and representation of the Phoenix. Amy concentrates on the flaming burning death of the bird and dismisses its rebirth as something negative. In comparison to Denise Levertov’s poem her representation is that the Phoenix represents the learning aspect of life, your future has not been written but learn from the “ashes and remains” of the past. May Sarton take’s more of a traditional aspect of the mythical bird. The phoenix in this interpretation is seen as a symbol of motivation and rebirth. The Phoenix tells us to never give up for our rebirth will make us stronger.
In Clampitts poem Berceuse she begins by describing the lullaby that comes from the phoenix as it reaches its death. The song to her is only a reminder of the Phoenix decaying as perishable as burnt paper. Most describe the Phoenix as something bold and positively meaningful, Amy Clampitt takes an optimistic perspective and sees the glass half empty in relation. Her boldest words; “ and sleep, now the furnaces of Auschwitz are all out, and tourist go there. The purest art has slept with turpitude”. She describes here that the terrible things happened in the Auschwitz camps are now used as tourist sites, and that the immorality of this place should remain asleep. The poem drastically becomes stronger in meaning as she writes “ the day of waking waits, cloned
The Phoenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in many mythologies from the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans. The legend of the Phoenix has been around for centuries, it’s a supernatural creature with a life of a thousand years. Once its life is up it will cast itself in flames, and as it dies it will be reborn again from its own ashes. The Phoenix has long been presented as a symbol of rebirth, immortality, and renewal. The Phoenix can be interpreted in various ways; lets explore and define this mythical creature that is reborn from its ashes. What does the Phoenix tell us, we will first explore Amy Clampitts view and representation of the Phoenix. Amy concentrates on the flaming burning death of the bird and dismisses its rebirth as something negative. In comparison to Denise Levertov’s poem her representation is that the Phoenix represents the learning aspect of life, your future has not been written but learn from the “ashes and remains” of the past. May Sarton take’s more of a traditional aspect of the mythical bird. The phoenix in this interpretation is seen as a symbol of motivation and rebirth. The Phoenix tells us to never give up for our rebirth will make us stronger.
In Clampitts poem Berceuse she begins by describing the lullaby that comes from the phoenix as it reaches its death. The song to her is only a reminder of the Phoenix decaying as perishable as burnt paper. Most describe the Phoenix as something bold and positively meaningful, Amy Clampitt takes an optimistic perspective and sees the glass half empty in relation. Her boldest words; “ and sleep, now the furnaces of Auschwitz are all out, and tourist go there. The purest art has slept with turpitude”. She describes here that the terrible things happened in the Auschwitz camps are now used as tourist sites, and that the immorality of this place should remain asleep. The poem drastically becomes stronger in meaning as she writes “ the day of waking waits, cloned