Yew as Death Symbol

[Terrance]

David Simpson wrote:
> 
> > 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

"The press of time and the unpressed memory goth make an
enemy of our words."--A. Slight

see Weisenburger's Companion.159 V302.2-3 

And see also Graves, White Goddess.194

"The real movement is not from death to any rebirth. It is
from death to death-transfigured." GR.166