The Two Trees

Words by William Butler Yeats, Music by Loreena McKennitt.
Pipe intro (Cé Hé Mise Le Ulaingt?) composed and performed by Patrick Hutchinson

(See the YouTube sidebar for the words of the poem)

W.B Yeats's “The Two Trees” describes the imagery of trees in relation to his ‘beloved’ Maude Gonne. The poem shows how the inner beauty of Maude is more significant than the external: BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart, The holy tree is growing there (Yeats, 1-2). The image of the holy tree inside of Maude’s heart is how the poet views his unchanging love for Maude. Later on in the poem, the poet tries to explain that looking into a mirror and examining her external appearance does not matter. External appearances fade with time whereas Maude’s inner tree will forever remain beautiful in his eyes. When I came across this poem , I found it quite interesting how the symbolism of the trees, as well as the description of external appearance shows what the poet is trying to address to the reader:

Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons, with their subtle guile,
Lift up before us when they pass,
Or only gaze a little while;
For there a fatal image grows (21-25).

Time affects the external appearance and in turn does not remain the same. The importance of being who you are reveals your ‘inner beauty’ and that is the more important of the two in life.

The Canadian born artist, Loreena Mckennit who was born in February 17, 1957 does an excellent job of portraying the imagery of the trees in her song “Two Trees”. Upon starting the video that I received from YouTube, there are different images of trees being shown throughout the entire song. While doing so, the first 2:15 of the song is just the soothing sounds of the bagpipes. I found that this is definitely in the Celtic genre in which she so often has wrote many of her songs. I enjoyed this version of the song. I found that it was emotionally moving and it really helped bring to life what Yeats was saying in his poem. Loreena has written many Celtic songs and has sold more than 13 million records worldwide. Overall , I think that it was very enjoyable to listen to and I would recommend you to check it out!

Amanda Trudeau