Holly, Yew and Box 



The idea that some old writers held that the 

 Yew was planted in churchyards and used in 

 relation to funerals on account of the mystic 

 meaning, that its longevity was symbolic of im- 

 mortality, and its evergreen character a sign of 

 resurrection is certainly the prettiest one attached 

 to the tree that can be included in our list. 



Wordsworth, probably had the idea of this 

 allusion to immortality in mind when, in his poem 

 on the Yew-tree, he wrote : 



" Of vast circumference and gloom profound 

 This solitary Tree ! a living thing 

 Produced too slowly ever to decay ; 

 Of form and aspect too magnificent 

 To be destroyed." 



In Plant Lore the following lines are quoted 

 in reference to the ending of the troubles and 

 trials of an arduous life after persons have been 

 laid to rest in the churchyard : 



11 Now more I love thee melancholy Yew 

 Whose still green leaves in silence wave 

 Above the peasant's rude unhonoured grave, 

 Which oft thou moistenest with the morning dew. 

 To thee the sad, to thee the weary fly : 

 They rest in peace beneath thy sacred gloom. 

 Thou sole companion of the lonely tomb ; 

 No leaves but thine in pity o'er them sigh ; 

 Lo ! now to fancy's gaze thou seem'st to spread 

 Thy shadowy boughs to shroud me with the dead." 



Apart from its reference to the dead, many 

 writers have referred to the Yew as a gloomy or 



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