Life and Nature - Scf - State College of Florida

Title
2
1 st stanza
4, 5, 8,
10
6, 11
6-8
Theme
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree”
• Innisfree is a real location. It is an island that Yeats traveled to as a kid, which is 2 miles away from
County Sligo, a popular vacation spot for Yeats. This poem is about Yeats remembering the
island whenever he hears the lapping of water because it is such a beautiful and peaceful place,
which is clearly represented in the poem by the following notes.
• Wattles = stakes or poles interwoven with branches and twigs, used for walls, fences, and roofs
(Encarta Dictionary)
• alliteration = gg, cc, hhh, llll
• These lines all contain words that portray peaceful sounds, sounds of nature. i.e. “bee-loud
glade”, “cricket sings”, “linnet‟s wings”, & “water lapping.” These words represent the tranquility at
Innisfree, which is why the speaker wants to go back there.
• “Veils” is used to show the pureness of the isle, compared to the busy streets of the city, which
can be represented from the “roadway” in line 11.
• There is imagery for each time of day. “The veils of the morning” can represent the dew and mist
of the morning that veil the land. “Midnight‟s all a glimmer” represents the stars twinkling at night.
“Noon a purple glow” can represent flowers glowing from the sunlight. “Evening full of linnet‟s
wings” represents the birds flying around finding their dinners.
• The theme about this poem is all about the peacefulness of nature on a secluded island in Ireland
where Yeats visited throughout his boyhood. Yeats imagines himself building a house and growing
crops and keeping a beehive. Nature has all the sustenance that he needs in life, whether it is from
growing crops, or having shelter from a hand-made home. It is also a place that he can fully claim on
his own. If he were to move the Innisfree to get away from the hub of the city, then he can have the
gratification of building his own home and not having to depend on anyone else for survival.