Yew Tree

The picture on the right is of an old Yew tree that has had many many years to grow. In my first reading of the Lines Left Upon A Seat in a Yew-Tree I had a difficult time understanding how the Yew tree fit into the narrative of the poem. After a Google search yielded the photo to the right, I took a new perspective to the poem and the role of that tree.

The message that Wordsworth trying to convey in these lines is somewhat cryptic. It is very clear, however, that a major separation occurs in line 8, if the large dash that begins the line was not obvious enough. The first eight lines of the poem describe this Yew Tree and its positive influence on a person, namely, that it: "lull[s] the mind." The subsequent fifty-two lines, on the other hand, discuss how our main character actually responds to the tree and natural surroundings. The overriding message Wordsworth makes is that while the tree (and nature's) beauty should relax this traveler and help him to clear his mind, it fails to do so. Why? Because he is a man of "lofty views and morbid pleasures" and therefore he cannot see the true, raw beauty the tree exhibits.

I see the tree as almost a God-like figure. Whereas most people probably use this natural giant as a way to take cover from a scorching sun, it has a different impact on our main character. Instead of covering up the traveler, it in fact exposes him. The tree is able to dig past the facades and superficialites this character's lives has been marked by and cuts directly to the core. That gentleman saw his Judgment Day under the shade of that omnipotent tree. Taking it one step further, I believe that Wordsworth is trying to show that God is omnipresent in any and everything, and we must appreciate every facet of the natural world, for to not to do so could lull your mind - and not in a good way.