The faithful turtle dove: a bird symbolising the inseparable couple

Smaller and shyer than the dove, the turtle dove has played a particular role in the history of symbols: not so much that of passion as that of fidelity. Its melancholy call, its regular return in spring and its habit of living in pairs inspired sacred texts, medieval natural-history treatises and Renaissance poets, who made it the image of a love that withstands time and even death.

The voice of the turtle

In the Bible the turtle dove appears in various contexts. The prophet Jeremiah mentions it among the migratory birds that know the time of their return. In the Song of Songs its call announces spring and love: winter is past, flowers have appeared on the earth and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. It is one of the most famous passages of the book, read for centuries as an image of the awakening of nature and of feeling.

The turtle dove was also an animal for offerings. Under Mosaic law, whoever could not afford a lamb could offer two turtle doves or two young pigeons, and the Gospel of Luke records that Mary and Joseph presented this offering at the temple after the birth of Jesus. The bird was thus associated with humility and purity, as well as love.

The chaste widow of the bestiaries

The text that did most to make the turtle dove a symbol of fidelity was the Physiologus, a Greek work of late antiquity that described real and fabulous animals, assigning them moral and religious meanings. It states that the turtle dove, when it loses its mate, does not seek another and lives in solitude. The Physiologus draws from this a lesson on chastity and the faithfulness of the soul.

The medieval bestiaries, heirs to the Physiologus, took up and expanded this description, often accompanying it with miniatures. The turtle dove thus became the model of the faithful widow, who does not remarry and remains bound to the memory of her spouse. This was an idealised piece of natural observation rather than a scientific fact, but it enjoyed great success in preaching and moral literature.

The Phoenix and the Turtle

In the Renaissance the turtle dove entered great love poetry. In 1601 William Shakespeare published an enigmatic poem known as The Phoenix and the Turtle, which appeared in a collection of verses by various authors. It celebrates the perfect union and shared death of two birds: the Phoenix, symbol of unique beauty, and the Turtle, symbol of fidelity. The text, whose interpretation is much debated, portrays a love so complete that it makes two beings into one.

For a modern reader the title can be misleading. In the English of the period the word turtle normally meant the turtle dove, short for turtle-dove, and not the reptile. The same usage recurs in other texts of the time and in English translations of the Bible, where the voice of the turtle dove in the Song becomes precisely the voice of the turtle, an effect that sounds curious today to anyone unaware of this nuance.

From the springtime call of the Song to the chaste widow of the bestiaries and the mysterious Shakespearean elegy, the turtle dove has embodied for centuries the ideal of a constant love. Its soft cooing, still heard in the Mediterranean countryside at the start of the fine season, has carried with it a moral and poetic meaning of remarkable endurance.