Ivy

Ivy is a genus of 15 species of climbing or ground-creeping evergreen woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to the Atlantic Islands, western, central and southern Europe, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan. On suitable surfaces (trees and rock faces), they are able to climb to at least 25–30 metres above the basal ground level.

Go into the garden. Go under the ivy, Under the leaves, Away from the party. ~ Kate Bush

Quotes

Ivy climbs the crumbling hall To decorate decay. ~ Philip James Bailey

I like such ivy, bold to leap a height Twas strong to climb! as good to grow on graves As twist about a thyrsus… ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Creeping ivy clings to wood or stone, And hides the ruin that it feeds upon. ~ William Cowper

Pluck an ivy branch for me
Grown old before my time. ~ Christina Rossetti

Direct The clasping ivy where to climb ~ John Milton

• This little girl inside me
  Is retreating to her favourite place.
  Go into the garden.
  Go under the ivy,
  Under the leaves,
  Away from the party.
  Go right to the rose.
  Go right to the white rose
  (For me.)
  • Kate Bush, in "Under the Ivy" (1985).

• Oh roses for the flush of youth,
  And laurel for the perfect prime;
  But pluck an ivy branch for me
  Grown old before my time.
  • Christina Rossetti, Song, st. 1 (1862).

• The holly and the ivy,
  When they are both full grown,
  Of all the trees that are in the wood
  The holly bears the crown.
  • Song The Holly and the Ivy.

• I see that God is in all creatures, man and beast, fish and fowl,
  and every green thing from the highest cedar to the ivy on the wall;
  and that God is the life and being of them all, and that God doth really dwell,
  and (if you will) personally (if he may admit so low an expression) in them all,
  and hath his being no where else out of the creatures . . .
  • Jacob Bottomley (Bauthumley) A Ranter Looks at the Dark Side of God (1650).

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922)

Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 402.

• Well might the thoughtful race of old
  With ivy twine the head
  Of him they hailed their god of wine —
  Thank God ! the lie is dead;
  For ivy climbs the crumbling hall
  To decorate decay;
  And spreads its dark deceitful pall
  To hide what wastes away.
  • Philip James Bailey, Festus (1839) Scene: A Large Party and Entertainment.

• That headlong ivy! not a leaf will grow
  But thinking of a wreath,
  Large leaves, smooth leaves,
  Serrated like my vines, and half as green.
  I like such ivy, bold to leap a height
  Twas strong to climb! as good to grow on graves
  As twist about a thyrsus, pretty too
  (And that's not ill) when twisted round a comb.
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (1856), Book II.

• Walls must get the weather stain
  Before they grow the ivy.
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (1856), Book VIII.

• The rugged trees are mingling
  Their flowery sprays in love,
  The ivy climbs the laurel
  To clasp the boughs above.
  • William Cullen Bryant, The Serenade.

• As creeping ivy clings to wood or stone,
  And hides the ruin that it feeds upon.
  • William Cowper, The Progress of Error, line 285.

• Oh, a dainty plant is the ivy green,
  That creepeth o'er ruins old!
  Of right choice food are his meals I ween,
  In. his cell so lone and cold
  * * * *
  Creeping where no life is seen,
  A rare old plant is the ivy green
  • Charles Dickens, Pickwick, Chapter VI.

• Direct
  The clasping ivy where to climb.
  • John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX, line 216.

• On my velvet couch reclining,
  Ivy leaves my brow entwining.
  While my soul expands with glee,
  What are kings and crowns to me?
  • Moore, Odes of Anacreon, Ode XLVIII.

• Bring, bring the madding Bay, the drunken vine,
  The creeping, dirty, courtly Ivy join
  • Alexander Pope, The Dunciad (1728; 1735; 1743), Book I, line 303.

• Round broken columns clasping ivy twin'd
  • Alexander Pope, Windsor Forest (1713), line 69.

• Where round some mould'ring tow'r pale ivy creeps,
  And low-brow'd rocks hang nodding o'er the deeps
  • Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard (1717), line 243.