The Moon and the Yew Tree
The Moon and the Yew Tree Lyrics
The trees of the mind are black. The light is blue.
The grasses unload their griefs on my feet as if I were God
Prickling my ankles and murmuring of their humility
Fumy, spiritous mists inhabit this place.
Separated from my house by a row of headstones.
I simply cannot see where there is to get to.
The moon is no door. It is a face in its own right,
White as a knuckle and terribly upset.
It drags the sea after it like a dark crime; it is quiet
With the O-gape of complete despair. I live here.
Twice on Sunday, the bells startle the sky --
Eight great tongues affirming the Resurrection
At the end, they soberly bong out their names.
The yew tree points up, it has a Gothic shape.
The eyes lift after it and find the moon.
The moon is my mother. She is not sweet like Mary.
Her blue garments unloose small bats and owls.
How I would like to believe in tenderness -
The face of the effigy, gentled by candles,
Bending, on me in particular, its mild eyes.
I have fallen a long way. Clouds are flowering
Blue and mystical over the face of the stars
Inside the church, the saints will all be blue,
Floating on their delicate feet over the cold pews,
Their hands and faces stiff with holiness.
The moon sees nothing of this. She is bald and wild.
And the message of the yew tree is blackness - blackness and silence.
About
‘The Moon and the Yew Tree’ paints a negative picture of a dysfunctional family. After the death of her father Plath finds no understanding or sympathy between her and her mother. Through symbolism and imagery — the yew tree, associated in Celtic mythology with death, represents her father and the moon her mother — Plath portrays the problematic family relationships. To deal with her isolation she attempts to connect with the natural world and with formal religion, but fails.
Throughout the poem identity is balanced against lack of identity. Everthing from the yew tree to the church bells have agency and are personified whereas Plath, who is the only human present, is confused, isolated and without identity. This creates a power imbalance; Plath is helpless, her mind gloomy and dangerous, believing herself insignificant and directionless. She believes her absence will not be missed in this world, while everything else around her has purpose. Given this mindset, the mood is unremittingly bleak.
Plath wrote the poem as an exercise given to her by Ted Hughes to write about “the full moon setting onto a large yew that grows in the churchyard”. He said of the resulting poem that it was “a statement from the powers in control of our life.”
Structure
The poem comprises four stanzas of seven lines each; unusual for Plath. The lines are also longer than usual, the sentence construction looser and more elaborate than the compressed, spare phrases of most of Plath’s poetry.
The first and last stanzas describe the effect of the poet’s uneasy and unfulfilling relationships, the second and third stanzas focus on her mother and father. There is a circularity in the structure, with the first stanza describing the “light of the mind” which doesn’t help Plath to “see where there is to get to”. The last stanza returns to this idea, with the even bleaker description of “blackness and silence”.
Language and Imagery
There is no formal rhyme scheme. Plath uses complex imagery, but the essence derives from the two prime metaphors; the moon and the the yew tree. Colours — blue, white and black — , light and dark, and religious imagery are woven throughout the poem.
See Sylvia Plath: A Critical Study, Time Kendall, Faber and Faber
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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- 12.Ariel
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- 14.Lesbos
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- 17.Getting There
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- 19.The Moon and the Yew Tree
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- 23.The Rival
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