LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE

1. Why did the poet want to go back to Innisfree?

Ans.Innisfree was a very quiet place and the poet had spent his childhood over there. He had many
sweet memories in that place, for that reason he wanted to go back to Innisfree.

2. . Why does the poet want to go to Innisfree?

Ans. The poet wants to go Innisfree in search of peace. He does not like London with its noise and grey
pavements. He wants to live in a place which is the opposite of London; he craves for some peace and
hence he wants to go to Innisfree where he will be self-sufficient. He will build a small cabin and grow
beans and make his own honey by keeping honeybees. Instead of city noise, he will hear the buzzing of
the bees and the sound of lake water lapping against the shore.

3. Write three things that the poet would like to do when he goes back to Innisfree.

Ans. Innisfree is a perfect island that provides everything desired by the poet. The poet will build a small
cabin of clay and fence. He will have nine rows of beans. He will also have a hive for the honeybees.

4. How does the poet describe the lake’s waves?

Ans. The poet says that the lake’s waves hit its shore and create a low sound. The sound, different from
the sounds of the city, gives him great pleasure. He hears it in his heart and enjoys it. It also gives him
solace and comfort as he realises he can visualise the island in his heart in the city.

5. How will the poet live on the island of Innisfree ?

Ans. The poet will go to Innisfree and live in the lap of nature in quiet solitude. He will build a small cabin
there. He shall have nine rows of beans and a hive of bees. He will survive on the beans and the honey
cultivated by himself.

6. What does the poet hear in his ‘heart’s core’ even when he is far away from Innisfree?

Ans. The poet is far away from the island of Innisfree in London. However, he hears not the sound of city
traffic, but the lake water lapping against the shore with low sounds in his heart’s core.

7. How does the poet describe midnight, noon and evening?

Ans. According to the poet, Innisfree is a magical place. In the morning, the mist is like veils thrown over
the lake. At noon, the purple heather blazes under the sun, and the sky glows with a purple glow. In the
evening, the environment is filled with the chirping of crickets and the fluttering of the linnet’s wings. In
the night, the bright stars cause the sky to shimmer.

8. What is the tone of the poem?

Ans. The poem has a very calm and relaxed tone. The speaker starts on a dreamy, with note, but as he
pictures the place in his mind, it helps him to make up his mind. His desire to escape becomes stronger
and he determinedly repeats his desire to escape. Finally, the poet has a relaxed tone as the speaker
realises that even though he lives in an urban area, he will hear the sounds of tranquil nature resonate
in the deepest part of his being.

LITERARY DEVICES

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at close intervals. The repetition may be at the
beginning of successive words (initial alliteration) and within words (internal alliteration). Alliteration
makes a poem lyrical.

Examples:

a hive for the honeybee

(here ‘h’ sound is repeatedly used)

the lake water lapping with low sounds

(here ‘I’ and ‘w’ sounds are repeated)

Metaphor

The metaphor is a figure of speech in which two, unlike objects, are compared by identification or by
substitution of one by another. It differs from a simile as in it, the words of comparison ‘as’ or ‘like’ are
not used.

Example:

veils of the morning

It is a metaphor for the clouds in the morning sky or maybe 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.

Personification

A poetic device in which human traits are attributed to something abstract or non-living.

Example:

the 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’.
Anaphora

Anaphora is the repetition of an identical word or a group of words in successive verses. Poets often
repeat single words or phrases, lines, and sometimes, even whole stanzas at intervals to create a
musical effect; to emphasize a point; to draw the readers’ attention or to lend unity to a piece.

Examples:

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’
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.
He is clear in his mind that he would definitely get up and leave for Innisfree.