The Lake Isle of Innisfree

 The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Question 1. What kind of place is Innisfree? Think about:

(i) The three things the poet wants to do when he goes back there (stanza I);

(ii) What he hears and sees there and its effect on him (stanza II);

(iii) What he hears in his “heart’s core” even when he is far away from Innisfree (stanza III).

Answer: Innisfree is a beautiful, peaceful and tranquil place where poet has spent a lot of time as a boy.

(i) The three things the poet wants to do when he goes back to Innisfree are:

- He wants to build a small cabin using clay and wattles.

- He wants to grow beans there.

- He wants to keep a hive for the honeybee so that he can have fresh honey

(ii) He hears the cricket sing and sees the midnight glimmer with the twinkling light of the stars in the sky. He sees the sun glowing purple, and the linnet birds flying in the sky in the evenings.

All of these provide him a soothing, peaceful and tranquil environment, which he never forgets.

(iii) In his “heart’s core”, the poet hears the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore even when he is far away from Innisfree.

Question 2. By now you may have concluded that Innisfree is a simple, natural place, full of beauty And peace. How does the poet contrast it with where he now stands? (Read stanza III.)

Answer: The poet contrasts the peace and tranquillity of Innisfree with the roadway and grey coloured pavements of the city he now lives in. The grey pavements show the unsatisfactory life of the poet.

Question 3. Do you think Innisfree is only a place, or a state of mind? Does the poet actually miss the place of his boyhood days?

Answer: Yes, I think Innisfree is a place, full of natural beauty, in reality. The poet actually misses the place of his boyhood days spent in the serene and calm environment of Innisfree. He longs to visit there when he hears sounds of the lake water lapping by the shore.

II.

Question 1. Look at the words the poet uses to describe what he sees and hears at Innisfree

(i) Bee-loud glade

(ii) Evenings full of the linnet’s wings

(iii) Lake water lapping with low sounds

What pictures do these words create in your mind?

Answer: (i) Bee-loud glade creates the picture of an open place in the forest that is filled with the buzzing sound of honeybees.

(ii) Evenings full of the linnet’s wings creates an image of linnet birds flying in the sky in the evening.

(iv) Lake water lapping with low sounds creates the picture of a peaceful and tranquil place where the water of the lake produces soft sound when it touches the shore.

Question 2. Look at these words;

... peace comes dropping slow

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings

What do these words mean to you? What do you think “comes dropping slow...from the veils of the morning”? What does “to where the cricket sings” mean?

Answer: These words mean that peace is such a thing that comes slowly to us, and gradually, and this is possible only in the midst of nature.

Peace comes dropping slow from the veils of the morning.

‘To where the cricket sings’, the poet means that peace comes slowly gradually from the early morning sky, when it is foggy, to the ground where the cricket sings.