Poetical allusions Keats, Sir Walter Scott i 7 1 



the imaginary 'ghostly shades,' is not evident. 

 Gisborne has the graphic expression, ' looking as if 

 clothed in chalcedony.' 



Keats, in his Ode to Melancholy, says : 

 ' Make not your rosary of yew-berries.' 



And in Endymion we find him speaking of the 



yew : 



' Again I '11 poll 

 The fair-grown yew-tree for a chosen bow.' 



Then Peone asks : 



' Hast thou . . . 



Thy dreadful bow against some deer-herd bent, 

 Sacred to Dian ? ' 



And after hearing Endymion's story, she gently 

 reproves his weakness in love ; and tells 



' How a ring-dove 



Let fall a sprig of yew-tree in his path ; 

 And how he died.' * 



Sir Walter Scott, in the Lord of the Isles, has 

 the following : 



* The glossy holly loved the park, 

 The yew-tree lent its shadow dark, 

 And many an old oak, worn and bare, 

 With all its shivered boughs was there.' 



And he has also some fine descriptive lines on the 

 yews at Rokeby : 2 



1 Endymion, Bk. i. p. 730. 



2 Rokeby, Canto n. ix. At Rokeby is a fine tree on the side of the 

 river farthest from the house, probably one of those mentioned by Sir Walter 

 Scott. It is about 50 feet in height, with an unbroken lead. On the 



