Lake Isle of Innisfree
Encyclopedia
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
in 1888. The poem was published first in the National Observer
National Observer (UK)
The National Observer was a British newspaper published from 1888-1897.The publication began as the Scots Observer, until its location was moved from Edinburgh to London in 1889, after which it was renamed the National Observer. The paper was considered conservative in its political outlook. One of...
in 1890 and reprinted in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics
The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics
The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics is the second poetry collection of William Butler Yeats.It includes the play The Countess Kathleen and group of shorter lyrics that Yeats would later collect under the title of The Rose in his Collected Poems.This volume includes several of...
in 1892. One of Yeats's earlier poems, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" was an attempt to create a form of poetry that was Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
in origin rather than one that adhered to the standards set by English poets and critics. The poem, unlike many others from the era, does not contain direct references to mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
, yet it received critical success in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
as well as in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
He remembers Innisfree as a utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
that would supply all his needs. His memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
tricks him into thinking it had a beautiful summer climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
all year round.
Lake Isle of Innisfree is not to be confused with the song, "The Isle of Innisfree
Isle of Innisfree
The Isle of Innisfree is a song composed by Dick Farrelly , born Richard Farrelly, who wrote both the music and lyrics. Dick got the inspiration for "Isle of Innisfree", the song for which he is best remembered, while on a bus journey from his native Kells, County Meath to Dublin...
". Although the two works share a similar title they are completely different and original in their own right but are very often mistakenly thought to be one and the same. "The Isle of Innisfree" is a song that was written in 1949 (words and music) by Irish songwriter Dick Farrelly
Dick Farrelly
Dick Farrelly born Richard Farrelly was an Irish songwriter, policeman and poet, composer of "The Isle of Innisfree", the song for which he is best remembered. His parents were publicans and when Dick was twenty-three he left Kells, County Meath for Dublin to join the Irish Police Force...
. The melody was used as the main theme of the film "The Quiet Man".
Background
When Yeats was a child, his father had read to him from WaldenWalden
Walden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
by Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
, and Yeats described his inspiration for the poem by saying that while he was a teenager, he wished to imitate Thoreau by living on Innisfree, an uninhabited island in Lough Gill
Lough Gill
Lough Gill is a freshwater lough mainly situated in County Sligo, but partly in County Leitrim, in Ireland. It is about 8 km or 5 miles long and 2 km or 1 mile wide, and drains into the River Garavogue near Sligo Town. The picturesque lake is surrounded by wooded hills and is popular with...
. He suggests that when he was living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he would walk down Fleet Street and long for the seclusion of a pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
setting such as the isle. The sound of water coming from a fountain in a shop window reminded Yeats of the lake that he had previously seen, and it is this inspiration that Yeats credits for the creation of the poem.
In his youth, Yeats would visit the land at Lough Gill at night, often accompanied by his cousin Henry Middleton. On one occasion, they went out onto the lake at night on a yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
to observe birds and to listen to stories by the crew. The trips that Yeats took from the streets of Sligo to the remote areas around the lake set up for him the contrasting images of the city and nature that appear in the poem's text.
Analysis
The poem is a twelve-line poem divided into three quatrains and an example of Yeats’s earlier lyric poems. Throughout the three short quatrains the poem explores the speaker’s longing for the peace and tranquility of Innisfree while residing in an urban setting. The speaker in this poem yearns to return to the island of Innisfree because of the peace and quiet it affords. He can escape the noise of the city and be lulled by the "lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore." On this small island, he can return to nature by growing beans and having bee hives, by enjoying the "purple glow" of noon, the sounds of birds' wings, and, of course, the bees. He can even build a cabin and stay on the island much as Thoreau, the AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n Transcendentalist, lived on Walden
Walden
Walden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
Pond. During his lifetime it was—to his annoyance—one of his most popular poems and on one occasion was recited (or sung) in his honor by two (or ten—accounts vary) thousand boy scouts.