The Poem Tree

Presentation compiled from 8mm footage and video
filmed between 1991 and 1995 showing views of
Wittenham Clumps and the beech tree known as
The Poem Tree.



I (extract)

From the small western window of their house
On the eastern edge of the village
Joseph Tubbs can watch the whole street. It is waking up.
It is still dark out. Behind the village, etched on the horizon,
Two hills are silhouetted, twin clumps
Their gentle forms agitate the skyline.

For as long as he can remember
Joseph has always kept the clumps in view
Never straying so far
As to loose sight of them.
It is there that he orientates his face
It is there that he will find his place.

Read the whole poem
http://thepoemtree.blog.hr/



As up the hill with labouring steps we trod
Where the twin clumps their sheltering branches spread
The summit gain'd, at ease reclining lay,
And all around the wide spread scene surveyed,
Point out each object and instructive tell
The various changes that the land befell
Where the low bank the country wide surrounds
That ancient earthwork form'd old Mercia's bounds.
In misty distance see the barrow heave,
There lies forgotten lonely Culchelm's grave.
Around this hill the ruthless Danes entrenched
And that fair plain with gory slaughter drenched
While at our feet, where stands that stately tower,
On days gone by up rose the Roman power.
And yonder, there where Thames' smooth waters glide,
On later days appeared monastic pride.
Within that field, where lies the grazing herd,
Hugh walls were formed, some coffins disinterred,
Such is the course of time, the wreck which fate
And awful doom award the earthly great.

Poem carved on a beech tree, Wittenham Clumps, Oxfordshire,
by Joseph Tubbs in 1844.

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