The Lake Isle of Innisfree Group

Topic: Is Yeats' "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" positive or negative? Explain.

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1

julieashley1

PLease give me your honest opinion but also explain your reasonnig as to why you might think it is pos. or neg.

2

The speaker in this poem yearns to return to the island of Innisfree because of the peace and quiet it affords. He can escape the noise of the city and be lulled by the "lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore." On this small island, he can return to nature by growing beans and having bee hives, by enjoying the "purple haze" of noon, the sounds of birds' wings, and, of course, the bees. He can even build a cabin and stay on the island much as Thoreau, the American Transcendentalist, lived on Walden Pond. Everything the speaker describes implies is positive.

Innisfree is a real island near Sligo in Ireland where Yeats spent many of his summers with his grandparents. He could row out to the island and spend some time in solitude. As an adult, he recalls these peaceful memories. 

3

This is one of my favorite poems!  The tone of this poem can be interpreted in a few different ways.  Most would say it has a positive tone.  Some would say it is rather wistful.  I think it is somewhere in between, quite frankly.  The isle provides the narrator of the poem with a sense of tranquility and peace, things he does not have while he is in the city.  The narrator is commenting about this place and he appears to be longing for it once again.

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