tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post3068710796321120057..comments2024-03-16T16:12:13.296+00:00Comments on some LANDSCAPES: A yew on the chalk downsPliniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06529481330530614513noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post-62798777058930190842007-06-24T15:30:00.000+01:002007-06-24T15:30:00.000+01:00Thanks, aurelia. And 'The Combe' (the second poem...Thanks, aurelia. And 'The Combe' (the second poem here) ends "But far more ancient and dark / The Combe looks since they killed the badger there, / Dug him out and gave him to the hounds,/ That most ancient Briton of English beasts." Of course the yew tree has rather gloomy associations generally. As Sylvia Plath said, "the message of the yew tree is blackness - blackness and silence."Pliniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06529481330530614513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19151341.post-79820647096395530582007-06-24T11:51:00.000+01:002007-06-24T11:51:00.000+01:00It may be worth comparing Christopher Tunnard’s co...It may be worth comparing Christopher Tunnard’s comments on the yew and the chalk downs with images described in poems by Edward Thomas:<BR/><BR/>‘Against rolling light green grassland it (a yew tree) has no connection, no vital link of similarity or even of contrast to weld it to the surrounds.’ <BR/><BR/>When first I came here I had hope,<BR/>Hope for I knew not what. Fast beat<BR/>My heart at the sight of the tall slope<BR/>Of grass and yews, as if my feet<BR/><BR/>Only by scaling its steps of chalk<BR/>Would see something no other hill<BR/>Ever disclosed. ...<BR/>(Edward Thomas 1916)<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>‘See the same tree against the jagged whiteness of a chalk-pit, and the aesthetic effect is at once satisfactory.'<BR/><BR/>The Combe was ever dark, ancient and dark.<BR/> Its mouth is stopped with bramble, thorn, and briar;<BR/> And no one scrambles over the sliding chalk<BR/> By beech and yew and perishing juniper<BR/> Down the half precipices of its sides, with roots<BR/> And rabbit holes for steps. The sun of Winter,<BR/> The moon of Summer, and all the singing birds<BR/> Except the missel-thrush that loves juniper,<BR/> Are quite shut out. ...<BR/>(Edward Thomas 1914)aureliarayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10073105505110178711noreply@blogger.com