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The lake isle of innisfree

Sep 2, 2025

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Overview

This lecture analyzes William Butler Yeats' poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," focusing on its themes of longing for peace, nature, and simplicity as opposed to city life.

Introduction to the Poem

  • The poet wishes to escape city life and build a simple cabin at Innisfree using natural materials.
  • He desires a peaceful existence, self-sustained by gardening and beekeeping, away from urban noise.
  • The poem expresses a central longing for tranquility, nature, and personal freedom.

Title and Setting

  • The title refers to a real, uninhabited island in Ireland, significant to the poet's longing for peace.
  • The word "free" in "Innisfree" symbolizes the speaker's yearning for freedom and escape.

Structure and Voice

  • The poem is a lyrical poem, expressing strong personal emotion and written in the first-person point of view.
  • Repetition of "I will arise and go now" emphasizes urgency and determination to escape.

Literary Devices and Imagery

  • Alliteration and assonance give the poem a song-like quality (e.g., "bee-loud glade").
  • Imagery from nature: mist, bees, crickets, linnets, and glowing light at different times of day.
  • Use of biblical allusion (the prodigal son) to underscore themes of return and longing.
  • Figurative language like metaphor ("veils of the morning") links nature and peace.

Themes

  • Major themes: desire for peace, simplicity, freedom, and a spiritual connection to nature.
  • Contrast between tranquil island life and the dull, noisy, and stressful city.
  • Sound imagery from nature (bees, crickets, linnets) highlights peace versus city noise.

Contrasts and Symbolism

  • Contrasts in tense (will/now) represent wish versus reality.
  • Symbolic objects: cabin (simplicity), natural sounds (tranquility), "grey pavement" (city dullness).
  • Irony: desire to be alone amid bees, creatures that live in colonies.

Conclusion and Takeaways

  • The poem ends on a somber, unresolved note: the speaker's longing remains unfulfilled.
  • "Deep heart's core" shows deep emotional attachment to the ideal of Innisfree.

Key Terms & Definitions

  • Lyrical poem — A short poem expressing personal emotion, often with musical qualities.
  • First-person narrator — The speaker is a character telling their own story.
  • Alliteration — Repetition of initial consonant sounds.
  • Imagery — Descriptive language appealing to the senses.
  • Metaphor — Direct comparison between two unlike things.
  • Allusion — Indirect reference to another work or story.
  • Onomatopoeia — Words that imitate natural sounds.
  • Symbolism — Using objects to represent broader ideas.

Action Items / Next Steps

  • Review previous lessons on poetry analysis and toolkit for interpreting poems.
  • Re-read and annotate "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" focusing on imagery, themes, and literary devices.
  • Prepare examples from the poem to support discussions of theme, imagery, and tone.

Line 1:

"I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,"

  • Analysis: The speaker expresses a strong determination to leave immediately for Innisfree. The repetition of "go" emphasizes urgency and longing.
  • Literary devices:
    • Repetition ("go") emphasizes desire and resolve.
    • No metaphor, simile, or personification here.

Line 2:

"And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;"

  • Analysis: The speaker plans to build a simple, natural home, emphasizing simplicity and connection to nature.
  • Literary devices:
    • Symbolism: The "small cabin" symbolizes simplicity and a humble life.
    • No metaphor, simile, or personification.

Line 3:

"Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,"

  • Analysis: The speaker imagines self-sustenance through gardening and beekeeping, reinforcing a peaceful rural life.
  • Literary devices:
    • Imagery: Visual image of orderly bean rows and a beehive.
    • No metaphor, simile, or personification.

Line 4:

"And live alone in the bee-loud glade."

  • Analysis: The speaker desires solitude amid the natural sounds of bees. The phrase "bee-loud" emphasizes the presence and sound of nature.
  • Literary devices:
    • Personification: The glade is described as "bee-loud," attributing it the human quality of being loud due to bees.
    • Alliteration: "bee-loud" (repetition of 'b' sound).
    • No metaphor or simile.

Line 5:

"And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,"

  • Analysis: The speaker anticipates a gradual, gentle arrival of peace in Innisfree.
  • Literary devices:
    • Personification: Peace is personified as something that "comes dropping slow," as if it moves like a physical entity.
    • Metaphor: Peace is compared to something that can "drop," suggesting a gentle, natural arrival.
    • No simile.

Line 6:

"Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings."

  • Analysis: Peace is likened to morning mist or dew ("veils of the morning") that gently covers the land, extending to the place where crickets sing.
  • Literary devices:
    • Metaphor: "Veils of the morning" compares morning mist to veils, suggesting softness and covering.
    • Personification: Peace "dropping" from the veils gives it human-like movement.
    • No simile.

Line 7:

"There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,"

  • Analysis: The speaker describes the magical, peaceful qualities of Innisfree at different times of day.
  • Literary devices:
    • Personification: Midnight is described as "all a glimmer," attributing it a sparkling quality.
    • Imagery: Visual images of "glimmer" and "purple glow" create a serene atmosphere.
    • No simile.

Line 8:

"And evening full of the linnet’s wings."

  • Analysis: The evening is filled with the gentle fluttering of linnet birds, adding to the peaceful natural setting.
  • Literary devices:
    • Personification: Evening is described as "full of the linnet’s wings," giving it a sense of being filled or alive with bird activity.
    • Imagery: Auditory and visual image of bird wings fluttering.
    • No simile.

Line 9:

"I will arise and go now, for always night and day"

  • Analysis: The speaker repeats his determination to leave, emphasizing that the longing is constant, day and night.
  • Literary devices:
    • Repetition: "I will arise and go now" reinforces urgency.
    • No metaphor, simile, or personification.

Line 10:

"I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;"

  • Analysis: The speaker hears the gentle, soothing sound of water lapping, which comforts him even in the city.
  • Literary devices:
    • Onomatopoeia: "lapping" imitates the sound of water.
    • Personification: Water is given the human action of "lapping," as if it softly speaks or touches.
    • No simile.

Line 11:

"While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,"

  • Analysis: The speaker contrasts his current urban environment, dull and lifeless ("grey"), with the vibrant natural world he longs for.
  • Literary devices:
    • Imagery: Visual contrast between "roadway" and "pavements grey" and the natural setting of Innisfree.
    • No metaphor, simile, or personification.

Line 12:

"I hear it in the deep heart’s core."

  • Analysis: The sound of the lake is deeply felt within the speaker’s soul, showing his emotional connection to Innisfree.
  • Literary devices:
    • Metaphor: "deep heart’s core" symbolizes the innermost feelings or soul.
    • Personification: The heart is given a "core," emphasizing depth of feeling.
    • No simile.

Summary of Figurative Language:

  • Personification: Peace "dropping," "bee-loud glade," "midnight’s all a glimmer," water "lapping."
  • Metaphor: Peace as something that "drops," "veils of the morning" as mist, "deep heart’s core" as emotional center.
  • Simile: None explicitly used in the poem.

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