Tags
Edward Thomas, environment, Fraxinus excelsior, landscape, nature, Nature writing, photography, World tree, World War I, Yggdrasil
Fraxinus excelsior, the ash tree, the World-Tree, Yggdrasil, ‘Venus of the Forest’ may soon have disappeared from the British landscape. Ash dieback, Chalara, a fungal disease that has already killed ash trees across Europe is spreading rapidly across Britain.
Ash at Dawn, Wales, November 2012, photograph copyright Diana Hale
Here is the poet Edward Thomas writing on the ash in Autumn, a sight we may have seen for the last time:
“As the sun rose I watched a proud ash tree shedding its leaves after a night of frost. It let them go by threes and tens and twenties; very rarely, with little intervals, only one at a time; once or twice a hundred in one flight.
Leaflet – for they fall by leaflets – and stalk twirled through the windless air as if they would have liked to fall not quite so rapidly as their companions to that brown and shining and oblivious carpet below. A gentle wind arose from the north and the leaves all went sloping in larger companies to the ground – falling, falling, whispering as they joined the fallen, they fell for a longer time than a poppy spends in opening and shedding its husk in June.
But soon only two leaves were left vibrating. In a little while they also, both together, made the leap, twinkling for a short space and then shadowed and lastly bright and silent on the grass. Then the tree stood entirely bereaved and without a voice, in the silver light of the morning that was still young, and wrote once more its grief in complicated scribble upon a sky of intolerably lustrous pearl. ”
Himself killed in the 1st World War, Edward Thomas here seems to be echoing the fall of those dying in battle.
Yggdrasil, the World-Tree
According to the 13th century Icelandic Edda
“The ash Yggdrasill endures anguish,
more than men know.
A hart gnaws it on high, it rots at the side,
While Niohoggr devours it below.”
Let us hope that the predictions of Norse mythology of the end of the world with the death of the world-tree do not come true.
Related articles
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/chalara
- UK News: New ash tree disease cases found (walesonline.co.uk)
- VIDEO: Dieback ‘could be end of the ash tree’ (bbc.co.uk)
- UK News: Paterson hopes over UK ash trees (walesonline.co.uk)
- Diseased trees: Ash to ashes (economist.com)
dianajhale 
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Such a beautiful passage from Thomas. Forcibly reminds us of the poignancy of losing such a tree. Am now considering doing a blog post on Thomas myself!
I would ‘like’ this post, but that’s not quite right for something so sad.
Heartbreaking to read about this. Another in an avalanche of species under threat, though it seems that when we lose this tree we lose something culturally significant too.
How beautiful the piece by Edward Thomas is…
It’s all so sad. I’d recently been reading somewhere about Ronald Blythe’s ‘sentinel ash’ when the news became filled with fears about ash dieback. All that continuity, familiar beauty and vital ecology under threat in all our lives, and in all our own special places. I remember well the news stories when we lost our elms. All the further problems created in our modern world for our native tree species feel like a fast-spiralling away from long ages – towards possible losses horrible to imagine.
Thank you for this very thoughtful and timely post, Diana.
Seen in a wider context the ash sickness appears to be part of a larger crisis in the health of plant life in general. It’s not hard to see where this leaves us if such trends continue to evolve misdiagnosed and unabated.
A beautiful elegy, Diana, and a reminder of all that might be lost.
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“They fall by leaflets” is such a stark, startling line, quite apt for any war but for the loss of trees most appropriate. As you wrote, there does seem to be a conspiracy against trees, perhaps as they are so life-giving and thus, the onslaught. A most thoughtful post, Diana.
Karen
Interesting take on the ash tree and Yggdrasil here by Paul Kingsnorth in the independent: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/11/08/farewell-to-the-ash-the-tree-of-the-world/.
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Yggdrasil, interestingly enough, appears in many Japanese roleplaying video games, where its leaves are used to revive a character who has died in battle. Here it is as the centerpiece for the Dragon Quest IX poster,
and here is a screen shot of when the player actually reaches the tree in question:
There was a now discredited theory I think about how many elements of myths have a universal nature. Fascinating comparisons,Tyran, images with a rather different magic!
Beautiful – and deeply melancholy post… love Edward Thomas’s work and so powerful here.
‘A hart knaws it on high’ – I’ve been thinking of Robert Graves’ ‘White Goddess’ every time there’s a report on ash trees – his calendar of ancient trees (and apparently it was originally called ‘The Roebuck in the Thicket’). I read it years ago and it’s so deeply imprinted in my mind, this all feels like something vital (the ash) could be lost from the cycle. All very Arthurian and grim…
I had a look at the White goddess again myself. Such a wonderful source of ideas and knowledge. I agree this is getting decidely grim.
There does seem to be a conspiracy against trees whether climate change, storms, disease or insurance company vendettas as well as government policy or non policy. It is very sad and disturbing.
The news of this devastation of another of our native trees just shows how poorly our governments consider trees. Just see what happened to the Elm and now the Oak, Chestnut and Ash.