In
A Nutshell
William Butler Yeats was kind of a messy guy. By which we
mean that he grew up with a lot of contradictions in his life.
He was an
Irish city boy (living mostly in Dublin, and later London), but he visited his
mother's hometown in County Sligo (totally country) every summer.
He
received the best, most progressive education but was also drawn to good old
fashioned Irish folklore.
He often
wrote in traditional English styles, but also understood the Irish's desire for
independence, and tried to write poems that reflected that, too.
You get
the picture.
There
were so many opposing forces pulling him in different directions, and it really
shows in his poetry. One poem might be influenced by Greek mythology and
another by Irish folklore. One might be about the end of the world, and another
might be the quiet end of his career.
He's a
hodgepodge poet, and "The Lake Isle of
Innisfree," published
in 1893, is yet another example of his tendency to compare and contrast. It's a
country-lovin' poem that actually takes place in a crowded, bustling city. It's
all about how the speaker's dreams for the future don't quite reconcile with
his present situation. As in, he wants something really bad, but he probably
won't have it anytime soon. It's all about the mishmash clash between dreams
and reality.
Sure, it
probably wasn't too much of a stretch for Yeats to write about a city slicker
who longs for the peace of the countryside, considering that as a boy he lived
in Dublin and London and visited County Sligo (where the actual island of
Innisfree is located) every summer for some much needed rural R and R. But this
isn't just a poem about wanting some peace and quiet, and being stuck in the
city. It's a whole lot more.
It's
about the contradiction we have to live every day. We're stuck in one place,
while we long for another. The grass is always, always, always greener on the
other side of the fence, and Yeats was no stranger to that idea. His speaker is
on the cusp of crossing that fence, but in the poem at least, he never quite
gets there. So he lives the dream in his mind, while his body's stuck in the
lackluster reality.
Why Should I Care?
Shmoop's
feeling a little nosy, so we're gonna get personal and ask you a prying
question: where's your happy place? Come on, you know what we're talking about.
Where do you go—in your mind, or in reality—when you need to get away from it
all? You can tell us. We won't spill.
Cell
phones, iPods, video games, car alarms, doors slamming, people talking,
laughing, shouting. It's a noisy world out there. Regardless of whether we're
city folk or country people, we all need a little peace and quiet sometimes,
and it seems it's getting harder and harder to come by.
Yeats wrote
this poem in the late nineteenth century, and even then he was feeling crowded by busy city
life. The poem is, if anything, even more relevant in today's world. If you've
ever dreamed of a place of your own where you could get a little R and R—a tropical
island with crystal-clear water and white sand beaches, maybe, or, like Yeats,
a cozy cabin in the woods—then you can relate to this poem.
It's all
about the wish to turn the volume down a bit and even press pause. And hey,
maybe poetry can be that special, quiet spot for you. Maybe Yeats is your new
happy place. Ommmmmm.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
Summary
The speaker says he's going to
go to Innisfree to build a small, simple cabin. He'll have a little bean garden
and a honeybee hive. He wants to live alone in peace with nature and the slow
pace of country living. Sounds like a plan, buddy.
In the last stanza, the
speaker restates that he's leaving and explains it's because every night he
hears the water lapping against the shore (of Innisfree). Even though he lives
in a more urban place with paved roads, deep down inside he's drawn to the
rural sounds of Innisfree. It's all about rustling trees, not bustling buses
for this speaker.
Line
1
I will
arise and go now, and go to Innisfree
- The
speaker states that he's off to Innisfree. Uh, whootywhat?
- Innisfree
is a small island in a lake called Lough Gill, in
Sligo County, Ireland.
- Yeats
grew up visiting Sligo every year, and taking small trips to Lough Gill.
- You
know what jumps out at Shmoop here? This speaker sounds pretty resolved. I
will arise! And go now! And go to Innisfree!
- Geez,
buddy, we get it. So get movin' already.
Line 2
And a
small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
- First,
we have to tell you that wattles are rods and stakes mixed with sticks and
branches to make walls or fences. They sound hilarious, but they're
actually pretty standard fencing fare.
- So
he's going to build a small cabin and it's going to be pretty simple and
rustic, right?
- Right
away we can tell this isn't your typical dream-vacation fantasy palace.
He's not building some villa with an infinity pool.
- And
once again, we've got some serious determination on our hands. This guy is
making plans. Let's see if
he keeps 'em.
Lines 3-4
Nine
bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the
bee-loud glade.
- He
says he's going to have a small bean garden and a beehive for honeybees.
This guy sounds like he's in serious need of retirement.
- "Glade"
is an open space in a forest, so you can probably picture the bee glade as
a clearing in the woods surrounding his tiny cabin with swarms of
honeybees.
- In
line 4 the speaker states that he wants to live alone, surrounded only by
the sound of bees and the presence of nature. Why no friends and family to
share it, buddy?
- Anything
else you Shmoopers notice? Oh! Oh! Pick me!
- Yep,
these lines create a rhyme scheme for the first stanza, when you
combine them with the first two lines: ABAB. Innisfree rhymes with
honeybee, and made rhymes with glade. Nifty, right? For more, check out
our section on "Form and Meter."
Line 5
And I
shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
- Ah,
so here's the motivation for wanting to build a little cabin in the middle
of nowhere with not a soul nearby: peace! This guy just wants some P and
Q.
- The
second part of the line, "peace comes dropping slow" is
interesting, huh? So far, it looks like the speaker equates a slow, simple
pace of life with peacefulness.
- But
why is peace "dropping"? What's that all about?
- If
the speaker is so serious about getting some peace in his life, we might
assume that he isn't feeling too peaceful where he is now.
- Maybe
he's feeling trapped, restless, and way too busy. Either way, he thinks
that Innisfree is his ticket to happiness—a break from all the hubbub.
Line 6
Dropping
from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
- In
the previous line we learned that "peace comes dropping slow."
Here we're getting a hint (figuratively, or imaginatively) of where it
comes from.
- What
are these "veils of the morning"? Maybe it's a metaphor for the fog of early morning, or
the mist. This is a watery place, after all. Or maybe even the dew on the
morning grass. These could all seem like veils that are lifted once the
sun rises.
- And
what about "to where the cricket sings"? If we trace this a few
lines back, Yeats is saying, peace falls slowly from the veils of morning
and spreads to where the cricket sings.
- Where's
that? Hidden nooks in the woods, among grass and flowers.
- He's
talking nature big-time here. So far, peace equals nature in a serious
way.
- It
also seems like peace isn't something he can create or have control over.
It comes to him from nature; he can't make it happen in the city. So he's
gotta go where the peace is—and that's Innisfree.
Lines 7-8
There
midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the
linnet's wings.
- "There"
refers to Innisfree and this cabin this dude imagines or plans to build.
- Apparently,
in Innisfree, midnight is shimmering and beautiful and midday is a purple
glow—this is starting to sound a little fairy-tale gorgeous, isn't
it?
- A
linnet is a kind of bird that's like a finch. In other words, it's pretty
small.
- Saying
that the evening is full of linnet's wings makes us think not only of one
bird, but also of all of them in flight. Now that's an image.
- The
imagery is getting almost dreamlike—purple, hazy, full of birds in flight.
We don't know about you, but we want to go to there.
Lines 9-10
I will
arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping
with low sounds by the shore;
- Just
in case we weren't sure, the speaker is all: Guys? I'm really going. I'm
going to Innisfree. And don't you forget it.
- In
a way, it's almost as if he snaps out of his daydream with fresh resolve
and determination. That daydream he was describing—the plans he has to
build his cabin—was so real it was almost as if he were already
there.
- But
he's not. Still, wherever he is, he can hear the lapping of the water on
Innisfree in his mind or something.
- Of
course because he's not really hearing the water, we should think of this auditory image as a metaphor for his strong desire to head to
Innisfree, ASAP.
- We
think it's safe to say that he imagines the sounds because he's so
absorbed in his desire to get to this ideal place.
- And
"for always night and day" lets us know that he's pretty haunted
by the place—obsessed even. No wonder he's so determined.
Line 11
While I
stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
- Ah,
now we get it. Here's hard evidence that the speaker is not in a rural
place, but one with paved roads. In other words, he couldn't be further
away from idyllic, rural Innisfree.
- The
fact that he can hear the waters of Innisfree while he's standing on cold,
hard pavement is a testament to just how much he loves that place.
- Plus,
check out that sneaky little internal rhyme here. Roadway rhymes with
grey, but they don't both come at the end of the line (hence calling it
"internal rhyme"). It's the kind of thing you don't notice
unless you're reading the poem aloud.
- So
do it, Shmoopers. Read this guy aloud. You won't regret it. We promise.
Line 12
I hear it
in the deep heart's core.
- Bingo.
It's confirmed. The lapping water the speaker hears is imaginary.
- While
we suspected that Innisfree is, at this point, mostly a figment of this
dude's imagination, his reference to the "deep heart's core"
shows us just how important Innisfree is to him.
- It's
not just something he's thought about once or twice, but something that he
desires deep down inside. He doesn't just hear the water in his mind; he
hears it in his heart. There's an
emotional connection there, don't you think?
- And
of course the heart can't actually hear, so we might think of the
"deep heart's core" as a metaphor for the part of the speaker that
feels and dreams deeply.
- The
end of this poem is pretty sad. Think of the movement of the poem. The
speaker sets up this ideal place where he feels completely at peace. We
kind of get that he's fantasizing, but we don't realize how sad it is
until the ending, when we find out he's standing in a place so completely
different from his dream.
- Instead
of getting the sense that he's close to reaching Innisfree, the poem ends
with a picture of him standing on a paved road pining over a place he
might never get to.
- Bummer,
dude.
Nature
Symbol Analysis
Nature, which the speaker
seems to equate with peace, dominates the poem. What's interesting about all
these descriptions of nature is that, in the end, we find out the speaker is
actually in an urban setting. All that nature is just a daydream. Maybe if he
were living in the country, the speaker would be longing for the bustling city.
Who knows? But Yeats paints a pretty tempting picture of the countryside here.
All we need now is some lemonade and a hammock.
- Title: "Lake Isle" sets us up pretty
perfectly for a poem with tons of natural imagery. Even
choosing the word "Isle" over "Island" makes us think
of someplace dreamy and remote, and totally pleasant.
- Line 3: Of all the riches and wonderful things to
want for, the speaker goes for beans! So right away we're seeing the
speaker elevate nature as something personally important to him. Later in
the line, he mentions bees. It seems he wants to grow his own vegetables
and harvest his own honey. You know, living off the land and all that.
- Line 4: "The bee-loud glade." The speaker
wants to be surrounded by the sounds of nature. "Glade" is an
open space in a forest. Living in that clearing with only the birds
chirping and bees buzzing seems pretty awesome to him.
- Line 6: More soothing sounds of nature. Here Yeats
writes about the peaceful sounds of the cricket. That's definitely
something you don't get in the city.
- Line 8: This is both an image of
nature (birds' wings filling the night sky) and another idea of what the
place must sound like. At this point, we have an entire soundtrack of the
speaker's ideal retreat. Where can we buy it? We want it for our commute.
- Line 10: Again more sound/image mixing. It shows the
speaker isn't just imagining what the place will look like, but what it
will sound like, too.
Solitude
Symbol Analysis
While the words loneliness and
solitude are both used to describe being alone, they don't quite mean the same
thing. Solitude usually implies being a-okay with being alone. But loneliness?
Not so much. We use solitude here because the speaker seems to really think
that being alone would be the most peaceful, wonderful thing in the world.
- Line 1: This is the speaker's first announcement
that he's headed out of civilization to be alone in the country.
- Line 2: The speaker wants to live in a modest cabin.
That doesn't leave a ton of room for entertaining.
- Line 4: This is the official declaration that the
speaker wants to live totally alone. Without people, that is. He does
seems pretty psyched about having nature's creatures for company.
- Line 5: After getting away from it all, the speaker
says he'll finally have some peace and quiet.
- Line 9: The second time this line comes around, it
really emphasizes the speaker's determination to get away.
- Line 12: The speaker's connection with this place is
so strong that it almost seems spiritual or romantic. No wonder he wants
to be alone with it.
Innisfree
Symbol Analysis
Is any place perfect? Probably
not, but this speaker seems to think Innisfree is. But hey, we're all guilty of
a bout of nostalgia now and then. We take a place we remember fondly and
embellish it in our minds until it becomes the best place in the world—our own
personal fantasyland. Our own Innisfree.
- Line 1: Okay, while this line doesn't come off as
too "head in the clouds," listen to the tone of it. Would you
ever say, "I will arise and go now, and go to the grocery
store." We don't think so. Just the way the line is constructed, its diction and repetition,
lets you know Innisfree is a pretty important place.
- Line 6: The speaker imagines that peace actually
drops from themetaphorical "veils of morning." This
is definitely dream-like.
- Line 7: Have you ever noticed that, when a character
on TV or in a movie goes into a dream, the camera often gets all fuzzy and
soft-looking? This is the same kind of picture Yeats is painting here with
"glimmer" and "purple glow." With every line, the
place seems less and less realistic.
- Line 8: This is a cool image, but it's
totally exaggerated. How can an evening be filled with wings? Sure, a
bunch of birds can fly around and the sky can be full of them, but this
appears to be another example of embellishment for fantasy's sake.
- Line 12: Here we see where the dream stems from.
Instead of saying he can hear the water in his mind, or memory, he says he
hears it in his heart. The heart is known less for its rational
decision-making and more for its emotional urges.
