Yew as Death Symbol

[David Simpson]

> Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2001 22:33:47 -0500
> From: Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: 175s
>
>
> "That is one meaning of the shape...rune...yew tree..."
>
> DEATH!
>
> Note that  Weisenburger says P has made a mistake here or
> has
> twisted this out of Graves or his other sources  to make
> something fit. The Yew tree is not symbolic if Death, but P
> changes it and this is very important clue, because when P
> does this is most often not an oversight or error but
> indicative of some import that he wants the reader to
> understand. Trees are one of P's favorite religious symbols,
> be it the cross, or Puritan song, or Zoyd's daughter's
> epiphany. Here, the Yew tree is Death and if we trace out
> the trees in GR we will have an interesting pattern.

Can't imagine why Weisenburger or any other critic would claim that the Yew is not a
symbol of death. The tree has long been associated with the dead in England, in
France, and in Celtic lore, and it has been specifically used as a symbol of death
by Tennyson, Eliot, Plath, and others. Hardly think that Pynchon had to go
Graves-robbing or Golden Bough breaking to come up with this usage.
--
"When your enemy makes an obvious error, you should immediately suspect him of a
strategem."-- N. Machiavelli.
--
Home Page: http://www.depaul.edu/~dsimpson