Yew
Dark yew trees add a gloomy, somber air
to English churchyards. Anglo settlers brought them to America where they
have become a feature of many graveyards. The trope "yew" or "you" tree
invokes in the mind of poets a representation of the ultimate end of us
all. (Cf. Wordsworth Yew-Trees
and Lines
Left Upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree) English cemeteries became yew-tree
reserves because the branches were used to make bows. Once a year,
parishioners would clip the churchyard yews so that other cemeteries might
be filled with the victims of war. |