The Phoenix Themes

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s “The Phoenix” tells the story of a greedy carnival showman, Mr. Tancred Poldero, who acquires a phoenix. Seeking to maximize his profits from the bird, Poldero attempts to exploit the fact that when a phoenix dies, it bursts into flames and is then reborn in the fire, turning this death and rebirth into a show. To pull it off, Poldero tortures the bird so it will die as soon as…

While the phoenix is a mythical creature that doesn’t exist in nature, the story treats it as a real living bird. In this way, the phoenix stands in for the dignity and power of nature, while Mr. Poldero—the showman who wants to exploit the bird for profit—stands in for mankind. The conflict between Mr. Poldero and the phoenix, then, can be seen as an allegory for the conflict between humanity and nature. And when…

Sylvia Townsend Warner’s “The Phoenix” depicts a society that wants to be entertained. Mr. Tancred Poldero runs a tourist attraction called “Poldero’s Wizard Wonderworld,” where he uses a phoenix to help boost ticket sales. While phoenixes are actually mythical birds, the story presents them as real but exceptionally rare, so it makes sense that such a bird would draw a large audience. Nonetheless, the British public soon grows bored with the phoenix, which leads Mr.…