The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1890

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

The Pull of Childhood Nostalgia

What we know from Yeats’s autobiography is that from a young age, he saw Innisfree as a potential place to experiment with solitude as Thoreau did at Walden Pond (See: Further Reading and Resources). This was due to his father reading Thoreau to him as a child. After seeing a fountain in an advertisement in the Strand, he started thinking of Lough Gill and his childhood again. With these notations, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” can be read as a biographical poem. Although Yeats is never completely clear within the text about his suffering, he notes that the speaker longs to find “some peace there” (Line 5). If the speaker is indeed Yeats himself, this indicates that at the present moment, he is restless or distressed, and traveling back to the simpler times of his youth through this poem provides a brief respite.

When life is difficult, we often return to childhood dreams. As a young man perhaps overwhelmed with London, Yeats contrasts the “grey” (Line 11) city streets with a nostalgic memory of the natural beauty of Innisfree. He believes if he could simplify his life—pruning it down to a “small cabin” (Line 2), “bean-rows” (Line 3), and a “hive for the honey-bee” (Line 3)—he would be happier. The cacophony of London would be replaced with the hum of “the bee-loud glade” (Line 4). The elusive calm would come “dropping slow” (Line 6). The world would be buffered, almost magically blurry.

The peaceful calmness described in Stanza 1 is a good representation of how we imagine things from our childhood—idyllic and mystical. Yeats does not consider the natural elements that might be less conducive to his dream, such as storms or drought. He does not imagine his crops failing. Innisfree, to the speaker, is the definition of nostalgia, the sentimental desire for the past, for a place or period of pleasurable association; as such, Yeats’s poem named for that place deeply invokes these sentiments. A simple image in a shop window takes him to the past, to his father’s voice, to Thoreau’s vision, and the poem that results from this pull to childhood embodies the aching what if that can never be practically resolved.

The Desire for a Private Arcadia

During the 19th century, London was the largest city in the world. By 1891, when Yeats lived there, its population was nearly over 5.5 million people. While London was a thriving political, financial, and commercial capital, it was also rife with poverty, overcrowding, disease, and catastrophic atmospheric pollution, mainly caused by coal consumption. Many residents longed for clear air and green spaces, particularly those in the bucolic countryside. Having grown up in Northern Sligo, Ireland, which was noted for its beauty, and as a site of mythological tales, Yeats saw its stark contrast to London.

A poetic name for an idealized place of unspoiled pastoral beauty that serves as a haven of tranquility is Arcadia, inspired by the Greek province of the same name. Many 19th-century poems feature a quest for an Arcadian locale, in which one could find respite, where one put aside modern industrialization to live in simplicity. However, those who wrote of mythic Arcadias generally understood that they were utopian, ideal, and unlikely. As such, there was often a mixture of tranquility and sadness in any Arcadian narrative.

This mix of emotions can be seen in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” as the speaker yearns for the simple life they could construct on the small island in the middle of Lough Gill, far from the bustle of London’s industry. In their homemade hut, they would “have some peace” (Line 5) among the “crickets” (Line 6), the “linnet[s]” (Line 8), and the “lake water lapping with low sounds” (Line 10). They are sure they would find a tranquil Arcadia at Innisfree—but they also know it as only internal, an idealized reflection.

At the end of the poem, the speaker admits that they currently stand “on the pavements” (Line 11) that are “grey” (Line 11) in color, denoting perhaps either their stain by pollution or the emotional tenor they encourage. Still, while Innisfree is not achievable at the moment, they “will arise and go now” (Line 9, emphasis added) as if they cannot wait another moment to get there. Indeed, Innisfree is never lost to the speaker and its sounds are heard “always and night and day” (Line 9). The idyll rests “in the deep heart’s core” (Line 12), so the speaker can travel there by simply recalling these memories. In this way, it serves as a continual touchstone of natural beauty and hope.

The Meditative Aspects of Nature

In his travel article on Yeats Country for The New York Times, Russell Shorto explains that when one actually spies Innisfree in Lough Gill, it is quite inhabitable and not particularly striking. He notes, however, that Yeats never intended to actually inhabit it, but instead suggests that it serves as a personal locus for meditation. Shorto believes Yeats was “searching, trying to find his balance, his center. He knows he left it somewhere in his past, as we all have done. The poem is a mental exercise, a meditation” (Shorto, Russell. “In Ireland, Chasing the Wandering Soul of Yeats.” The New York Times, 2015). Whether we look at the poem in biographical terms or not, the idea that the poem’s speaker is engaged in meditation emerges as an interesting theme.

One of the techniques used to create calm in a person is to have them meditate on a place where they felt profoundly happy. This allows a feeling of safety and calm to be achieved as one recollects the moment, causing a resurgence of pleasure. For example, the speaker in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” feels agitated and notes the absence of “peace” (Line 5) in their life where they “stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey” (Line 11). This agitation is alleviated when they imagine Innisfree, meditating on a possible life there.

The speaker is fully present in their fantasy. They construct a “small cabin” (Line 2), plant beans, and nurture bees. They “live alone in the bee-loud glade” (Line 4) and see the wonder of the “[midnight] all a glimmer” (Line 7). They see the heather in the reflection on the water, hear the ripples on the lakeshore, and observe the “evening full of linnet’s wings” (Line 8). In the end they are emotionally transported to Innisfree and feel the happiness it engenders.

As Shorto notes, whether the island is an actual inhabitable place is irrelevant. It is the contemplation of it that is essential to the speaker. The speaker knows what they don’t want, a state of non-peace, and realizes that using the practice of imagining Innisfree soothes their “deep heart’s core” (Line 12). Innisfree is not a place, it is an idea on which to meditate, essential and precious to the mental well-being of the speaker.