Lake_Isle

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Relevant background WB Yeats was born in 1865 in Dublin. His family was upper class. Yeats received classes in art and thus could paint a scene well with words. Despite dyslexia and early difficulty with learning the alphabet, he turned into the greatest Irish Poet of the Twentieth Century. He spent some of his early life in London. That’s where he wrote The Lake Isle of Inisfree at the age of 25. The Isle was a place he daydreamed about. He loved Sligo, his mother’s home place and the location for The Lake Isle of Inisfree. The Lake Isle of Inisfree is a poem which shows that Yeats was a bit of dreamer, like a lot of poets. He liked to dream of a beautiful place like Inisfree. The poem also shows how simple use of language could achieve musical effects. The Poetic Development of Yeats Phase Number 1: -Worldly and simple poetry which was influenced by the Celtic legend and the folk culture of the Irish peasants. (The Wanderings of Oisin) (1888)/ The Rose (a collection) (1893) [They are dreamy Romantic lyrics] [Yeats: his poetry “has the overcharged color inherited from the romantic movement” -the heroes of Yeats early poetry are always deserting the real world for an imaginary world. -For these heroes the real world is a sad unsatisfactory place [in one of his early poems “the fairies warn the child they are stealing that the world is more full of weeping than you can understand” -In the imaginary world the heroes seem to have lost connection with the laws of the real world [In innisfree Yeats seem to be immortal where nth that is ugly jars and where nth that is beautiful fades] -Yeats’ early poetry was frankly escapist and its main purpose was not to interpret life but to compensate for life. His early writing follows the conventions of romantic verse, utilizing familiar rhyme schemes, metric patterns, and poetic structures. Although it is lighter than his later writings, his early poetry is still sophisticated and accomplished. Phase Number 2: -Yeats couldn’t remain the poet of the Celtic Twilight. -The second phase is characterized by the volume “The Wind Among the Reeds” (1889) -The second phase is full of symbolism -Visionary themes (in this phase Yeats explored Man’s inner life by the use of complex emotional symbols that are hard to analyse. Phase Number 3: The exploration of the external life (influenced by Synge) (The Green Helmet) (1910) -Yeats was attracted by Synge’s “clean” view of life because he was tired of romantic idealism and the inhumanity of symbolism. -The Green Helmet is characterized by a tersed, unadorned language with simple Wordsworthian Rhythms. (The decorated romanticism, Irish mythology are no more in this phase) [In this stage Yeats emotions are immediate and clear] The Lake Isle of Innisfree -The poem appeared first in a magazine “The National Observer” and was later included in a volume of poems called “The Rose” (1893). -Yeats was in London when he wrote this poem in 1890. -Innisfree is an island near Sligo. -Yeats had always dreamed of a simple life close to Nature. The Occasion: -When Yeats was standing on actual pavements in London “the pavements grey”, he heard a jet of water in a chemist’s shop that set him dreaming of this island in a fit of home-sickness. (Nostalgia) -When Yeats was a child, his father had read to him from Walden by Henry David Thoreau, 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, -Innisfree therefore is actually a Gaelic word that means “heather island.” Innisfree is also an island that can be found off the coast of Ireland. The island is known for its natural beauty that it has. The island is specifically located in County Sligo. Analysis: - Line 1 In this line Yeats establishes the opening tone as well as the refrain of the poem. The poem focuses on Innisfree as a place of escape for the speaker. Lines 2 – 4 Here the speaker describes Innisfree as a simple, natural environment where he will build a cabin and live alone. Note the rich description in these lines. The language is specific. The speaker does not merely mention that he will build a cabin, but also that it will be made of “clay and wattles.” The speaker also specifies that he will have “nine bean-rows,” instead of simply a “garden.” These are images that conjure up in the mind of the reader concrete visual features of Yeats’s poetic fantasy. Notice also the particularly interesting image of the “bee-loud glade.” This image invests Innisfree with a magical air. Lines 5 – 6 In these lines Yeats introduces the connection between peace and Innisfree in the speaker’s mind . Yeats wants to explain that the abstract idea of “peace” is abundant from morning until night in Innisfree, but instead of relying on that cliche, he transforms morning into the image of veils from which peace falls Lines 7 – 8 Here Yeats continues with transforming midnight and noon into almost eerie images. Evening becomes a dark image of the sky filled with the wings of birds. Lines 9 – 12 In the last lines of the poem, the speaker stands in the street surrounded by gray pavement. This image, which is hard and silent, contrasts with the soothing, soft image of the water. The speaker continues to hear the sounds of nature even in the city. The peace of Innisfree is able to transcend the urban environment because it resides in a completely natural one, that of the speaker himself. The Themes: -Homesickness (Exile) -Urbanization (another poem of escape): Ireland is, historically, an agrarian land. For centuries it was a nation of farmers - often working under unfair conditions for their British conquerers. Thus, though Ireland's agrarian identity was complicated, it was central. A rapport with the change of seasons and with the harvest cycle was central to Irish life. At the time of the composition of The Rose, however, urbanization had begun to encroach upon Ireland. Dublin was a major metropolitan area, for instance, in the heart of a traditionally rural society. This complex relationship between urban and rural existence is essential to Yeats' perspective in The Rose. Though he lived much of his life in London and Dublin, Yeats viewed cities as inherently negative and poisonous. Thus poems like "The Lake Isle of Inisfree," which romanticize the Irish agrarian landscape with breathless awe, largely express the poet's discomfort with his urban environment. [Innisfree and the Rose in general made Yeats popular with the English middle-class which wanted to forget the ugliness and vulgarity of industrial civilization and escape into the mists of an imaginary Celtic Twilight] - For these heroes the real world is a sad unsatisfactory place [in one of his early poems “the fairies warn the child they are stealing that the world is more full of weeping than you can understand” -In the imaginary world the heroes seem to have lost connection with the laws of the real world [In innisfree Yeats seem to be immortal where nth that is ugly jars and where nth that is beautiful fades] -Irish Nature: Yeats's landscape descriptions are often obviously Irish, even if they do not include a specific place name. He highlights the rolling greenness and shifting light that characterize the Irish landscape. Additionally, some of his poems take a more specific approach to the Irish landscape. Many of them, including "The Lake Isle of Inisfree," treat a particular Irish place. Nearly all of these places are in County Sligo, Yeats' mother's ancestral home and the place on earth that he felt most connected to. Yeats was eventually buried in Sligo. Trapped in London, Yeats imagines creating a solitary existence in one of his favorite parts of County Sligo. -Peaceful Independence It takes the reader to a tiny island in the middle of a lake–away from the hubbub of everyday life, away from appointments and schedules–there to live independently, alone, with a garden and a beehive for sustenance and a little cabin for shelter. When Yeats was a child, his father had read to him from Walden by Henry David Thoreau, 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 The Style: -“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is 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 his boyhood haunt, Innisfree. (lyric: short poem that conveys intense feeling or profound thought. In ancient Greece, lyrics were sung or recited to the accompaniment of the lyre) -"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is written with an abab rhyme scheme corresponding to each of the three quatrains in the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" utilizes end rhyme in an abab rhyme scheme. This means that the end of the first line of a stanza rhymes with the end of the third line, and the end of the second line of a stanza rhymes with the end of the fourth line. All three of..... -Grammatical Irregularities: a) - Nine bean rows will I have there, → I will have nine bean rows there. (The unusual front of the noun in the beginning is to emphasize what the poet has. It may be small but important to him.) b) And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; → And a small cabin made of clay and wattles builds there. (The ungrammatical division of the adjective clause is to impress the readers with the picture, where there is no other building except the small cabin.) - In “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” the author uses many visual and sound images to express his longing for returning to nature. - Yeats relies on alliteration (see the poem and annotations below) and nature sounds--the droning of bees, the chirping of crickets, and the flapping of birds' wings--to suggest peace and tranquillity. . A pause occurs in the middle of the first three lines of each stanza |I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, |wattles: upright wooden poles or stakes through which | |And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;  |sticks and branches are laced horizontally and daubed with clay | |Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, |to make weatherproof walls. | |      And live alone in the bee-loud glade. |gg,cc,hhh,llll: alliteration | | |End Rhyme: Innisfree, bee; made, glade  | | | | |And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping |sccs: alliteration | |slow, | | |Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket |ing: internal rhyme | |sings; | | |There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon apurple glow, |all a glimmer: shimmering starlight; purple glow: sunlight or | | |flowers | |      And evening full of the linnet's wings. |glimmerandglow: alliteration; linnet: finch, a tiny seed-eating | | |bird | | |End Rhyme: slow, glow; sings, wings | | | | |I will arise and go now, for always night and day  |day, lake, roadway, pavements, gray: the long a echoes the long a | | |of  | |I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;  |clay, made, and glade in Stanza 1; lll: alliteration | |While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray, |roadway: Fleet Street in London | Also prevalent is the use of alliteration and assonance, both of which emphasize the musical tone and rhythm of the piece. -Tones Sometimes the tone is determined: ‘I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree’. Note how the repetition of ‘go’ emphasises his wish to depart. Sometimes the tone is dreamy: ‘And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made’. The clay and wattles show that he is unrealistic about his comfort and therefore a dreamer. Sometimes the tone is bleak and sad: ‘the pavements grey’. By placing ‘grey’ after ‘pavement’ Yeats is emphasising how much it depresses him. He reveals a lonesome tone as he refers to the streets and pavements. ‘And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings’. Did you also see in this quote the other unusual rhyme created by the repetition of ‘dropping’ in two lines' That is called Cross Rhyme. Rhythm: The rhythm is soft, dreamy and hypnotic. The repetition of ‘go’ in the first line, other internal rhymes, the cross rhyme, the end of line rhyming pattern, the alliteration, and assonance all contribute to this rhythm. The nine words of two syllables [like ‘glimmer’] in the second stanza increase the slow, dreamy atmosphere. By contrast the words are more often of one-syllable in the first and third stanzas, apart from about five words of two syllables in both. This creates a faster rhythm, which matches the poet’s urgent desire to leave the ‘grey’ city.