This photograph was taken in the churchyard of the tiny church of St Peter and St Paul, Bilsington which is on the escarpment leading down to Romney Marsh . This yew tree must be as old as the church (AD 1292). The reason it appealed to me was that Tennyson's "In Memoriam" came to mind as soon as I saw it.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD
This photograph was taken in the churchyard of the tiny church of St Peter and St Paul, Bilsington which is on the escarpment leading down to Romney Marsh . This yew tree must be as old as the church (AD 1292). The reason it appealed to me was that Tennyson's "In Memoriam" came to mind as soon as I saw it.
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10 comments:
a. Perfect partnership, this pic and that poem.
Avus
Beautiful
Very apt indeed. I wonder if it is the same yew? It looks old enough to be!
Beautiful photograph, what character that tree has.
Avus, you have a knack of coming up with some real old wonders which revive memories.
The Tennyson was one of my A level texts; I was melancholy and brooding and uncertain about life and the meaning thereof, and became quite immersed in and obsessive about it.
Do you know AS Byatt's 'Insects and Angels'? the second novella is much about 'In Memoriam', and, for me, set it in a revealing new light...
H: Just what I thought, too
KP: Thank you, Pete
CB: It has the reputation of being one of the oldest yews in Kent.
A:character and the repository of centuries of memories.
L:Glad to have stirred up some, not too unpleasant, memories. The poem wound its way down into my soul when I, too, was a teenager (perhaps it calls to that uncertain time in our development?)I still have large chunks of it by heart and it was seminal in introducing me to my interest in topography.
"The hills are shadows and they flow
From form to form and nothing stands.
They melt like mist the solid lands.
Like clouds they shape themselves and go."
and:
"There rolls the deep where grew the tree
Oh Earth, what changes hast thou seen"
Which could almost be a haiku on Romney Marsh itself!
Lucy P.S: I have not read AS Byatt's 'Insects and Angels' but have now ordered it from Amazon on your recommendation (so I had better like it - or else!)
Oh my......what a history. Think of all the time is has seen pass by. And what has happened around it......I have such respect for trees anyway, but one of this age.......WOW
Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.............
you should post the poem under the tree---
or
writing out the poem and tack it to the tree and
take a picture...
lovely photo!
For Sophie--Tack it to the tree? Sacrilege! You are scaring me.
I hope my connection doesn't quit again.
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