Skip to main content

In the first stanza of William Butler Yeats's "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," what does the speaker say he will do?

William Butler Yeats’s father read to him as a child. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond was among their favorites. References to this American classic are made in this poem, especially in the first stanza of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”


Readers must use their imaginations in this poem because that is what the poet does as he writes about a place he aches to go. Standing in the middle of a bustling, lively place (probably...

William Butler Yeats’s father read to him as a child. Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond was among their favorites. References to this American classic are made in this poem, especially in the first stanza of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”


Readers must use their imaginations in this poem because that is what the poet does as he writes about a place he aches to go. Standing in the middle of a bustling, lively place (probably Dublin in 1893) seems to drive him all the way to Innisfree.


The speaker desires to be someplace other than where he is. These feelings are not unique to Yeats. As children, we all have special memories of places we thought were the grandest places on earth.


Yeats actually proposes in his mind to go to the isle and build himself a cabin, much like the one Thoreau proposed to erect. The poem's speaker says,



I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree


and a small cabin build there, of clay.



When the speaker completes his cabin made from sticks, he is going to plow a garden with nine rows of some kind of beans. To finish off his paradise, a bee colony will provide him with honey.


This is a man who aches for solitude. He enjoys the idea of listening to nothing but bees. He yearns for Innisfree, where he can be himself and rest unperturbed "and live alone in the bee-loud glade.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why did Tybalt attack and kill Mercutio instead of Romeo, who he had originally been targeting?

Though Tybalt's quarrel is with Romeo, he begins the momentous duel in Act 3 by fighting with and killing Mercutio instead. Tybalt ultimately attacks Mercutio because the garrulous and hot-headed character insults Tybalt and goads him into a duel to protect Romeo's honor. From the beginning of the encounter in Act 3, Scene 1, it's clear that Mercutio is itching for a fight. For instance, when Tybalt signals that he wants to talk to Mercutio... Though Tybalt's quarrel is with Romeo, he begins the momentous duel in Act 3 by fighting with and killing Mercutio instead. Tybalt ultimately attacks Mercutio because the garrulous and hot-headed character insults Tybalt and goads him into a duel to protect Romeo's honor. From the beginning of the encounter in Act 3, Scene 1, it's clear that Mercutio is itching for a fight. For instance, when Tybalt signals that he wants to talk to Mercutio and Benvolio, Mercutio responds "And but one word with one of us?/ Couple it w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Follow the relationship between Pi and Richard Parker. They endure over two hundred days of hardship together, but in the end Richard Parker leaves...

When Pi and Richard Parker are at the beginning of their journey, after Pi's family is killed in the shipwreck, Pi fears Richard Parker, but he is forced to find a way to co-exist with him in order to survive.  Over time the two develop a somewhat co-dependent relationship.  Richard Parker depends on Pi to feed him by catching fish, while Pi's will to live is bolstered by Richard Parker's presence.  Richard Parker recognizes that... When Pi and Richard Parker are at the beginning of their journey, after Pi's family is killed in the shipwreck, Pi fears Richard Parker, but he is forced to find a way to co-exist with him in order to survive.  Over time the two develop a somewhat co-dependent relationship.  Richard Parker depends on Pi to feed him by catching fish, while Pi's will to live is bolstered by Richard Parker's presence.  Richard Parker recognizes that he also needs Pi to survive.  At one point in the book, Pi's starvation and thirst reduce him to a st...
Post a Comment
Read more