Previous
Mr. Tancred Poldero
– While phoenixes are mythical birds, the phoenix in this story is treated as a real (albeit exceptionally rare) creature. In the story, the phoenix was living in “Arabia” prior to its capture by Lord Strawberry, a British aristocrat and explorer. Lord Strawberry brings the bird to his aviary in England, where the phoenix thrives. But after Strawberry’s death, the cruel Mr. Poldero buys the phoenix as an attraction at “Poldero’s Wizard Wonderworld.” Due to its quiet dignity and unfashionable beauty, the phoenix fails to attract crowds, leading Poldero to torture the phoenix in order to hasten its death. (Phoenixes die by bursting into flames and then they are reborn from the ashes, a spectacle from which Poldero assumes he can profit.) Despite all its hardships, the Phoenix remains a “charming” and “affable” creature throughout the story, seeming relatively unphased by all of Poldero’s antics. In the end, however, the phoenix does light itself on fire in front of the crowd Poldero has assembled, but the flames shoot everywhere and cannot be controlled. Poldero and his audience burn to death, while the phoenix is presumably reborn.
The Phoenix Quotes in The Phoenix
The The Phoenix quotes below are all either spoken by The Phoenix or refer to The Phoenix. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
The Phoenix Quotes
Finally Lord Strawberry went himself to Arabia, where, after some months, he found a phoenix, won its confidence, caught it, and brought it home in perfect condition.
0110
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
On its arrival in England it made a greatest stir among ornithologists, journalists, poets, and milliners, and was constantly visited. But it was not puffed by these attentions, and when it was no longer in the news, and the visits fell off, it showed no pique or rancour.
0011
It costs a great deal of money to keep up an aviary. When Lord Strawberry died he died penniless.
1110
The London Times urged in a leader that the phoenix be bought for the London Zoo, saying that a nation of bird-lovers had a moral right to own such a rarity.
1010
Even at popular prices the phoenix was not really popular. It was too quiet, too classical. So people went instead to watch the antics of the baboons, or to admire the crocodile who had eaten the woman.
0001
“PANSY. Phoenix phoenixissima formossisima arabiana. This rare and fabulous bird is UNIQUE. The World’s Old Bachelor. Has no mate and doesn’t want one. When old, sets fire to itself and emerges miraculously reborn. Specially imported from the East.”
0011
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“Suppose,” continued Mr. Poldero, “we could somehow get him alight? We’d advertise it beforehand, of course, work up interest. Then we’d have a new bird, and a bird with some romance about it, a bird with a life story. We could sell a bird like that.”
1001
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
It was not easy to age the phoenix. Its allowance of food was halved, and halved again, but though it grew thinner its eyes were undimmed and its plumage glossy as ever.
0101
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“The phoenix,” the loud-speaker continued, “is as capricious as Cleopatra, as luxurious as la du Barry, as heady as a strain of wild gypsy music. All the fantastic pomp and passion of the ancient East, its languorous magic, its subtle cruelties...”
0011
The cameras clicked, the lights blazed full on the cage. Rushing to the loud-speaker Mr. Poldero exclaimed:
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the thrilling moment the world has breathlessly awaited. The legend of centuries is materializing before our modern eyes. The phoenix...”
0001
“Well, if it doesn’t evaluate more than this, mark instructional.”
1000
The flames streamed upwards, leaped out on every side. In a minute or two everything was burned to ashes, and some thousand people, including Mr. Poldero, perished in the blaze.
1111
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Phoenix LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
The Phoenix Character Timeline in The Phoenix
The timeline below shows where the character The Phoenix appears in The Phoenix. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Phoenix
...within it. But the nicest part of his aviary is empty; it’s reserved for a phoenix.
(full context)
While many bird experts have insisted that phoenixes are mythical or extinct, Lord Strawberry believes that they exist. Every once in a while,...
(full context)
Lord Strawberry returns to England with the phoenix, which is a lovely bird. It’s charming, friendly, and very fond of Lord Strawberry. Immediately,...
(full context)
...the birds must be sold. The newspaper argues that the London Zoo should buy the phoenix because the public has a “moral right” to such a bird, and citizens from schoolchildren...
(full context)
The phoenix adjusts well to its new environment, and Mr. Poldero is pleased at first—the bird is...
(full context)
While complaining about the cost of bird feed one day, Mr. Polderorealizes that the phoenix is no longer earning its keep—it’s been weeks since anyone paid to see it. He...
(full context)
To age the phoenix, Mr. Poldero cuts its food back severely, turns off the heat, and puts mean birds...
(full context)
By spring, the phoenix’s health has deteriorated enough for Mr. Poldero to begin an advertising campaign for its death....
(full context)
A large crowd gathers around the phoenix on the day of its death. A loudspeaker booms, describing the phoenix as being “as...
(full context)
Yet just as the “thrilling moment” of the phoenix’s death is about to arrive, with the entire audience “breathless” before its cage, the phoenix...
(full context)
But at that moment, the phoenix does burst into flames—they shoot upward and outward in all directions. Very quickly, everything is...
(full context)
