To summarize Laryx Decidua's answer:
define and use a function like the following
plot.with.errorbars <- function(x, y, err, ylim=NULL, ...) {
if (is.null(ylim))
ylim <- c(min(y-err), max(y+err))
plot(x, y, ylim=ylim, pch=19, ...)
arrows(x, y-err, x, y+err, length=0.05, angle=90, code=3)
}
where one can override the automatic ylim, and also pass extra parameters such as main, xlab, ylab.