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The Lake Isle of Innisfree Summary Analysis and Explanation
About the Poet William Butler Yeats
The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ is a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), an Irish poet and playwright. The poem is about an actual place near the coast of Ireland, the Lake Isle of Innisfree, which is a very small, uninhabited island on the lake Lough Gill, in County Sligo.
| Poet Name | William Butler Yeats |
| Born | 13 June 1865, Sandymount, Ireland |
| Died | 28 January 1939, Hôtel 3 étoiles Idéal Séjour Cannes- 16 chambres atypiques – un Jardin confidentiel, Cannes, France |
| Poems | The Second Coming, Lake Isle of Innisfree |
| Education | National College of Art and Design (1884–1886), Godolphin and Latymer School, The High School |
The Lake Isle of Innisfree Introduction
This poem is about an actual place near the coast of Ireland, the Lake of Innisfree, which is a small and uninhabited island on the lake Lough Gill, in County Sligo. This watery landscape is where the young Yeats spent a lot of time as a child and the idyllic memory remained strong in his memory. The poem describes the isle as a much-favored place for peace and natural beauty where Yeats feels highly elated.
The Lake Isle of Innisfree Summary of the Poem
The poet expresses his desire to visit Innisfree where he will build a small, simple cabin out of natural material. He will have a little bean garden and a honeybee hive. He wants to spend a quality time there. He will live alone in the glade buzzing with the sound of bees. He says that he will have peace there, for peace drops from “the veils of morning to where the cricket sings.” At midnight there is a glimmer, and noon is a purple glow, and evening is full of linnet’s wings.
The poet declares once again that he will arise and go to Innisfree right now. It is because every night he hears the water lapping against the shore of Innisfree. Even though he lives in the much crowded urban place with paved roads, he can hear in the deep core of his heart the rural sounds of Innisfree. It is a place all about rustling of trees which is pleasant to hear.
One cannot find there the commotion of city life. There is no stress, no noise, only peace dwells there. Thus, the poet has got tired of the noise of London and craves for peace for which he wants to go to Innisfree where he had spent time when he was a young boy.
Rhyme scheme and literary devices used in the poem: The Lake Isle of Innisfree is a three stanza poem, each quatrain made up of three long lines and one short. The rhyme scheme is abab and all end rhymes are full. The literary devices used in the poem are Alliteration, Assonance and Consonance.
FAQs on The Lake Isle of Innisfree Summary
Q1. What is the summary of The Lake Isle of Innisfree?
The poem is about an actual place near the coast of Ireland, the Lake Isle of Innisfree, which is a very small, uninhabited island on the lake Lough Gill, in County Sligo. The poem describes the isle as a much longed-for place of peace and natural beauty, a quiet place where the speaker feels most grounded.
Q2. What is the main idea of the Lake Isle of Innisfree?
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” expresses the idea that nature provides an inherently restorative place to which human beings can go to escape the chaos and corrupting influences of civilization.
Q3. What does Innisfree mean?
Innisfree is a small island in a lake called Lough Gill, in Sligo County, Ireland. Yeats grew up visiting Sligo every year, and taking small trips to Lough Gill. … And go to Innisfree! Geez, buddy, we get it. So get movin’ already.
Q4. What type of poem is The Lake Isle of Innisfree?
“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is written mostly in hexameter, with six stresses in each line, in a loosely iambic pattern. The last line of each four-line stanza shortens the line to tetrameter, with only four stresses: “And live alone in the bee-loud glade.” Each of the three stanzas has the same ABAB rhyme scheme.