The Lake Isle of Innisfree by Willam Butler Yeats.

Moral Values:

• Everyone needs a break and time to enjoy the peacefulness of living a stress-free life.

• People must learn to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Nature vs. Civilization:

• What one values in nature is often the exact opposite of what civilization brings.

• Civilization destroys the peace that nature provides.

Theme of Man in the Natural World:

• The speaker has a peaceful, tree-hugging, green-loving approach to nature. He wants to celebrate the beauty of nature in the country on a lake.

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

• In the poem the speaker equates peacefulness with nature.

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

• William Butler Yeats paints a lovely picture of what nature looks like and the amount of activity that goes on.

Theme of Isolation:

• The speaker appears to crave privacy and peace.

"And live alone in the bee-loud glade"

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

• The speaker is sick and tired of living in a crowded city and begins to long for the company of nature. The speaker wants to retreat to an isolated location (Innisfree) and live alone with nothing but the company of nature.

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

Themes

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

By: William Butler Yeats.

Theme of Home:

Key Impacts.

Life, Time Period & Key Impacts.

• Inspired by Irish Folklore
• Lives in city but has a passion for Irish country side.
• Williams father would read him "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau who lived on Lake Innisfree. This was Williams favorite poem and from then on, he always had a passion to go to Innisfree.
• Williams passion for Innisfree was his inspiration for the poem.

• Home is where the heart is at (the speaker appears to live in a city but his heart is somewhere completely different).

"While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core."

• The speaker is longing to get to the idealized spot in his memory and make a home for himself there.

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

Key Biographical Details.

William Butler Yeats

1865-1939

• Born in Dublin, Ireland 1865.
• Raised in an artistic household.
• Originally interested in painting turned to literature in his twenties.
• Dedicated himself to the establishment of a national Irish theater & celebrated Irish culture through the use of myths and legends in his work.
• Won Noble Prize for literature in 1923.
• Died in 1939 Menton, France.

Time Period.

• Wrote "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" in 1888 while living in Ireland.
• Poem published in 1893, very popular in France and England.

Depressing and lonesome:

"the pavements grey"

• William Butler Yeats places the word "grey" after "pavements" to emphasize how much it depresses the speaker. A lonesome tone is revealed as Yeats refers to the streets and pavement.

Soft, peaceful and Mellow:

"for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings"

• The image of peace pouring from the morning mist and lasting till dusk where the cricket sings has a very peaceful, soft and mellow tone.

Type of Poem

Mood

Lyrical Poetry

Definition:

A type of song like poetry, distinguished from dramatic and narrative poetry

Lyrical Poetry:

Determined:

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

• William Butler Yeats uses sounds of nature to make the poem sound peaceful and calm (bees, crickets and water lapping)

"a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade"

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

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

Dreamy:

Figures of Speech

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

• The "wattles" and "clay" represent how the speaker is unrealistic about his comfort and therefore is a dreamer.

The Speaker in the Poem

Dominant Element

Imagery

Ex: “and live alone in the bee-loud glade”

“An evening full of linnets wings”, imagery is the sound we have of the birds flapping wings and the bees buzzing.

Personification

Ex: “Where the cricket sings”, gives cricket ability to sing.

Metaphor

Ex: “hear it in the deep hearts core”, ear does not connect to heart. Emphases the deep spiritual feeling of the poet, his memory gives him desire to return.

• The speaker is a city-dweller that is longing for a peaceful escape to "The Lake Isle of Innisfree"

• The speaker is most likely a male because the author William Butler Yeats is a male; and from his background history he grew up reading about Innisfree but lived in a city.

"While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core."

• The tone is dreamy, wistful because the speaker is longing for a place very different from the one (city) he is living in.

• The speaker is fed-up with the city because he had a passion for the wilderness; he wants to retire to the country life.

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

The setting of this poem would be the dominant element. This is a nature based poem, which targets the beautiful outdoors setting. There is no mention of relationships or other humans, only the majestic landscape where the poem takes place, making the setting the dominant element.

Auditory:

• The Lake Isle of Innisfree has strong auditory Imagery. The reader can almost envision the peaceful hymns of the bees buzzing, cricket's singing and the relaxing sound of water lapping.

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

"I head the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore"

"live alone in the bee-loud glade"

Sensory Imagery

Poetic Devices

Visual:

• William Butler Yeats allows one to visualize Innisfree as a lovely, peaceful, private Island. He allows the readers to envision Innisfree realistically.

"for peace comes dropping slow, dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings"

• William Butler Yeats describes the atmosphere by describing the way peace drops from the sky.

"There midnight's all glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings"

• The images create vivid pictures of Innisfree which provides a sense of inner harmony and peace. Everyone longs to travel to a beautiful place like Innisfree; throughout the poem William Butler Yeats allows the reader to envision and understand the speaker in the poem's desire for simplicity in a complex world.

Onomatopoeia

Ex: “I hear lake water lapping”

Alliteration

Ex: “Lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.” “L” & “S” sounds show alliteration and create music.

Assonance

Ex: “I hear it deep hearts core “, “ea & ee” sounds, these reveal a tone or mood of longing in the poet.

Rhyming

Ex: words of 1st & 3rd lines rhyme in each stanza. “ee”, “ade” , “ee”, “ade” (regular pattern found in all stanzas.)