Monday, June 20, 2011

Yeats and Innisfree

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Yeats describes the speaker’s desire to leave the city and live a simple, peaceful life in the country.  A notable aspect of the poem is it’s liberal use of sensory imagery.  Visually, the speaker contrasts the vibrancy and liveliness of the country, where the, “midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,” (line 7) with his current position in the dull city, where he stands, “on the roadway, or on the pavement grey,” (line 11).  More often however, Yeats appeals to the sense of sound.  The speaker mentions living, “in the bee-loud glade,” (line 4), mornings, “where the cricket sings,” (line 6), and evenings, “full off the linnet’s wings,” (line 8).  To the speaker, peace does not necessarily equal complete silence.  It simply means that it is quiet enough to appreciate the natural world more fully.  He can be completely immersed, in rhythm with the beating wings and the cricket’s songs.  
According to the footnote, Innisfree is a real island in the region that Yeats spent time in during his youth.  Therefore, Innisfree could also represent the peaceful innocence of childhood, and the speaker’s desire to go back to that.  It is also difficult for me to ignore the name itself.  It sounds like, “In is free”.  The speaker describes that he can still, “hear the water lapping with low sounds by the shore,” (line 10) even while in the city.  “I hear it in the deep heart’s core,” (line 12).  Despite social constraints, the speaker is free  within his own memories or imagination.  The country that he so loves is a part of him.  

2 comments:

  1. Heather,

    You demonstrate good attention to specific words and images in Yeats's poem and therefore this post is more interesting, insightful and successful than your previous one. Good job.

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