Yew (Afterward)

The Yew is part of the Taxaceae family and takes the form of a tree or shrub, depending on the kind of Yew. The wood of the tree is hard and heavy. People used it in the past for cabinetwork and bows. Nowadays, the wood is used for carvings and turnery (Britannica.com).

Due to its toxicity, the yew is a rather dangerous tree. The poison is deadly and all parts of the tree are poisonous, except for the fruit itself. The red fruit is edible, but the core inside the fruit is poisonous. It is important to keep in mind that this means that even the needles of the tree are poisonous. Despite its toxicity, the yew has been used as a natural medicine for abortions in the past. Nowadays it is only used in cancer therapy (Brottrager).

In terms of its symbolism, the tree is known as a tree of death but also as a tree of rebirth. Unifying death and resurrection made the tree especially prominent in Christian culture. For example, if a person passed away, people used to bury yew shoots with the corpse. Furthermore, yew branches are used in churches at Easter, fittingly, because Easter is the time of death and rebirth. In Britain, the tree is often found on church premises (Kendall).

The yew is special in that it is a loner. With its dark twists and gnarly contortions, it does look quite otherworldly, which is what made it so interesting to Celtic druids in the past. A singular element in nature, such as the yew tree, was seen as something special and the longevity of the tree made it even more special. The oldest existing yew is around 3.000 years old. Combined with the toxic nature of the tree, the longevity gives a paradox because life and death, immortality and mortality are combined in one tree (Venefica).

To sum it all up, the yew seems to be a kind of guide that guides the souls of the dead into the light. The tree symbolizes change, transformation, protection, longevity, endurance resurrection and finally, death (Brottrager).

In the short story “Afterward”, the yew is mentioned four times, twice in chapter one and twice in chapter three (Wharton 345; 347; 356; 359). Firstly, it may be interesting to point out that in chapter one and three, Bob Elwell appears and those are the only chapters in which the yew is mentioned. Considering that the yew is the tree of death and rebirth, it could be somewhat linked to Elwell’s transcend from the world of the dead, back into the world of the living. Secondly, the yew is mentioned thrice, twice in chapter one and once in chapter three, in combination with the fish pond. The pond, of course, holds water and water is the symbol of life (Fedorko 54).

According to Fedorko, Wharton associates water imagery with the feminine as she did in her story “The Hermit and the Wild Woman”. The more and more frequent use of water in her stories show that she became more comfortable with female iconography as she grew older (Fedorko 54).

• Britannica.com. “Yew”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. 29. April. 2018. 15. June. 2019. https://www.britannica.com/plant/yew

• Brottrager, Irmgard. “Wesen und Bedeutung des Eiben-Baumes”. Everyday Feng Shui. Everyday Feng Shui Berlin. 15. June. 2019. https://www.everyday-feng-shui.de/wesen-und-bedeutung-des-eiben-baumes/

• Fedorko, Kathy A. Gender and the Gothic in the Fiction of Edith Wharton. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 1995. Print.

• Kendall, Paul. “Yew”. Trees for Life. Trees for Life.org.uk. 15. June. 2019. https://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythology-folklore/yew/

• Venefica, Avia. “Celtic Meaning Yew Tree”. Whats-Your-Sign.com Life is Symbolic. Start interpreting. 15. June. 2019. https://www.whats-your-sign.com/celtic-meaning-yew-tree.html

• Wharton, Edith. "Afterward". The Muse's Tragedy and Other Stories . Ed. Candace Waid. London: Penguin Books, 1992. 342-373. Print.

• Image 1: Yew: https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=origxorig:format=jpg/path/s0031f87db135fdc9/image/i7852acf66ed4bba2/version/1279152493/image.jpg (Retrieved 15/06/2019)

• Image 2: Yews: https://cdn.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/yew-britt-9.jpg (Retrieved 15/06/2019)