Drug-induced Cogitations

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Here, where I live, in the Island Fortress, This Scepter'd Isle (sp?) ( what does "Scepter'd" mean???) there runs a range of hills called the South Downs.  Why they're called 'Downs', when they should be called 'Ups' I don't know - perhaps someone can enlighten me....

These Downs fall off into woodland, where the deer skulk.  At dawn and twilight the deer come out to play.  See them, if only once, at these times, before you die.  They're bathed in rolling mist...

Sight of them renders all else meaningless.  'Cos they are meaningful.  In that place, with that grace I've come to know my own place in The Grand Scheme Of Things.  Err... not sure where this going.... need it go anywhere?

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I 'Googled' this so can't claim it as first hand knowledge. The 'Scepter'd Isle' comes from Shakespere's 'Richard II' and I'd guess it to be an allusion to his rule over all of Great Britain. (as a sceptre is part of the coronation ceremony)

Downs derives from a Celtic word for 'hills'....

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Thanks sp. The South Downs make sense to me now, but what Shakespere was on about remains obscure....

There are ancient burial grounds up there on the Downs, and ancient yewtree woodland, and because Yew is toxic, it's not likely to be browsed by deer (they're not stupid). But long-lived though Yew is, it's not that long-lived, so it must be propagating itself.  Talk about sustainability.....

Yew used to be a feature of graveyards.  I suppose that they were planted as an 'eternal' commemoration of the dead.

Now people place benches bought from B&Q, with a plaque bearing the deceased's name, made in China.  They won't last quite the same.... 

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Aug 6, 2016 8:18:00 GMT 1 @annon3 said:

Thanks sp. The South Downs make sense to me now, but what Shakespere was on about remains obscure....

I've done a little more research and perhaps a fuller quote from Richard II would help : 'This precious stone set in the silver sea, this sceptered isle'. Just as a sceptre can be a staff topped by 'precious stone' and enclosed within gold or silver I'd guess the Bard was alluding to The British Isles being a jewel set in a sceptre, rather than anything to do with Kingly power.

....just as a side note, Richard II was born in Bordeaux...

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Aug 6, 2016 8:18:00 GMT 1 @annon3 said:

There are ancient burial grounds up there on the Downs, and ancient yewtree woodland, and because Yew is toxic, it's not likely to be browsed by deer p]

Curious aside to this - normally its not just animals that avoid this tree but other plants.
Curious because in St Launeuc - Brittany (22) in the churchyard is huge yew tree: from a crack between the branches of the yew a cherry tree has taken root and for many years a fully grown cherry tree not only grows but flowers and fruits from within the yew - its roots are inside the yew.