The Long, Long Life of Trees by Fiona Stafford

Author:Fiona Stafford
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300207330
Publisher: Yale University Press

TORCH-LIT PROCESSION AT BROUGH IN WESTMORLAND

And wear thou this, – She solemn said,

And bound the Holly round my head;

The polish’d leaves, and berries red,

Did rustling play;

And, like a passing thought, she fled,

In light away.

For Burns, the vibrant, virile, native holly was wholly superior to classical laurels for his accession to the role of Caledonia’s bard, especially as its mischievous, self-mocking character was guaranteed to puncture any pomposity. More than fifty years after Burns’ youthful vision, the elderly poet laureate, William Wordsworth, by then in his seventies, took a handful of berries and planted them at Mrs Fletcher’s home in Easedale, on the edge of Grasmere, in memory of his holly-crowned hero. Visitors to the Lakes can still comb the grounds of Lancrigg for berries from these very literary trees.

Today, however, the holly’s reputation has been balanced by much more feminine associations. It is now a popular girl’s name, especially for little girls born in late December. Holly Combs and Holly Madison were both December babies (though a number of other celebrity Hollys seem to have been born in the spring). The name ‘Holly’ became chic in the 1960s, after Audrey Hepburn captivated the world in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In Truman Capote’s original draft of the story, the central character was called Connie Gustafson but, luckily, he changed his mind and she became Holiday Golightly, better known as Holly. Anything less like the stubborn, slow-growing, prickly evergreen tree that hates to be transplanted than Capote’s flighty heroine is hard to imagine. As inspiration for a colourful, inviting, counter-conventional and very decorative free spirit, who is not quite all that meets the eye, however, the holly tree may be somewhere in the background.

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