CLASS: IX

The Lake Isle of Innisfree (Beehive)

Poem

Notes and Extra Q+A

INTRODUCTION

‘The Lake of Innisfree’ is a poem by William Butler Yeats. It is a poem

about tranquility of life. The poet wants to live in a cottage away from
the hustle- bustle of life. It reveals the poet’s nostalgia for the peace
and tranquility he enjoyed on the Lake Isle during his childhood. This
desire to lead a simple life on the quiet island also presents the poet’s
dislike for humdrum of life in cities and towns. So deep are the
emotions of the poet that he can, in his mind, hear the waves striking
against the banks of the lake. He says that peace can be found in a
solitary place only.

THEME

The poem revolves around the idea that the idyllic (very pleasant) life in
the country side with beautiful , peaceful and natural surroundings
gives much more pleasure than the life in cities with its noise, sound
and fury ( violent anger). The poet who had, during his boyhood, spent
his summers on the green and watery landscape of the Lake Isle of
Innisfree, feels a deep longing to shun the city life and to settle down in
the peaceful environment on the island. A simple life with only a few
simple needs will be more hectic life in the city.
MESSGAE

The poem conveys the message that a simple life amidst nature, brings
uninterrupted peace and joy. A life of material comforts offered by
cities is full of noise, pollution and crowd, while the life offered by
nature is in harmony with the soul. Nature has magical qualities and
offers an ideal way of living life.

LITERARY DEVICES
1. Alliteration
 a hive for the honeybee
 the lake water lapping with low sounds

2. Metaphor
 veils of the morning
It is a metaphor for the clouds in the morning sky or may be the fog of the
early morning or mist, or maybe even the dew on the morning grass. These
could all appear like veils that are lifted once the sun rises.
 ‘deep heart’s core’ metaphorically refers to the poet’s dreams.

3. Personification
 veils of the morning
Here, morning is personified as a woman whose face is covered by a veil.
The fog, mist or dew drops in the morning atmosphere form the ‘veil’.

4. Anaphora
It is the repetition of an identical word or a group of words in successive
verses.
 And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning…
 Here the words ‘ peace’ and ‘dropping’ are repeated. ‘Peace’ emphasizes
the calmness and ‘dropping’ and stresses the easy pace of things in nature
which is in contrast to the rush and humdrum of city life.

 I will arise and go now

The expression has been used twice in the poem, once in the first stanza
and then again in the last stanza. The repetition, apart from giving a
smooth flow to the poem, brings out the poet’s decisiveness( the ability to
make decisions quickly and effectively) . He is clear in his mind that he
would definitely get up and leave for Innisfree.

5. Imagery
It is used in the line – ‘And noon a purple glow’

6. Assonance
It is the repetition of same vowel sounds within words, phrases, clauses or
sentences.
It is used in the first and second lines- ‘ I will arise and go now, for always
night and day I hear take water lapping with low sounds by the shore….
Stand on the roadway, or on the pavement grey, ‘the ‘a’ and ‘o’ sounds are
repeated in these lines.

RHYME SCHEME
The poem consists of 12 lines, separated into 3 quatrains (a poem or a
verse of a poem containing only four lines) and abab cdcd efef rhyme
scheme. Another way to arrange the rhyme can be abab for each stanza.

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Q1. What connections does the poet share with Innisfree?

Ans. The poet has spent his childhood days in Innisfree. The pure, simple and beautiful aspects of
nature have left their impact on his mind, which attract him towards the Lake Isle of Innisfree.
 Q2. What will the poet do on reaching Innisfree ?
Ans. The poet will make a small cabin to live in with twisted sticks covered with clay to hold them
together. He will grow beans there for his sustenance. He will rear honey bees as well, for honey. He
will live there alone.
Q.3. What does the poet's wishes reveal about his character?
Ans. The poet's wishes are very simple and very few. It shows that the poet is very simple and self-
contented. He is not greedy. He loves peace.

Q4. Explain - "The bee-loud glade'.

Ans. It means that Innisfree is a natural place with peace everywhere. It is free from the noises of
factories, trains, vehicles etc. Only bees buzz here to produce low sound.

Q5. What conclusion can you draw about the poet as a person, from the poem ?
Ans. It seems that the poet is peace loving, and loves solitude. He loves to live amidst nature's
blessing and has a sharp insight for natural details.

Q6. Write the central idea of the poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree'.
Ans. The poem describes the simple wish of a common person to run away from the fast paced,
artificial city life. He wishes to escape to nature and lead a peaceful, undisturbed, slow paced life
there, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Q7. How can we interpret Innisfree as a state of mind?

Ans. Innisfree relates to the poet's childhood days. Innisfree and childhood days both stand for
the purity and simplicity of life, the carefree and peaceful mental state and love for beauty. The
poet wants to shake off the stress of living in a city, where he is struggling to establish himself. He
yearns for solitude and peace.
 Answer the following question in about 100-120 words:
Q1. How does the poem highlight the need for peace and tranquility?
Ans. The poem is all about the longing of the poet for peace, tranquility and solitude.
He is fed up of the fast paced, city life and of the hustle and bustle there. It makes life for him
stressful. He is nostalgic about his childhood days spent at the Lake Isle of Innisfree. There
were no targets to be met and life was simple and uncomplicated, unlike the struggle which
he is facing in the city. In the lap of Nature, living in solitude, only basic necessities have to be
fulfilled. He yearns for the natural beauty and the idyllic, surroundings of the lake. The
childhood memories of the Lake are deeply etched in his mind. The simple, joyful, carefree
days he has spent there, makes him want to relive the experience. He wants to live there in a
self made cottage, all alone by himself, undisturbed and close to nature. He wants to live a
slow paced life in the lap of mother nature. Seeking peace and tranquility, the images and
sounds of the lake of Innisfree make him want to escape to Innisfree.