William Butler Yeats wrote the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" about a pleasant island he remembered from his youth. In the poem, the poet imagines leaving the city and going to live in nature on the island. He imagines building a rustic home to live in using wattle and daub construction. In this method, clay is used to bind sticks, twigs, or other wood together to form the walls. It is a primitive construction method that one person could probably accomplish single-handedly.

He intends to raise bees for honey and grow his own vegetables: "nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee." The poet believes this simple lifestyle will bring him great contentment as he appreciates the wildlife, the vegetation, and the reflection of the sun and moon glinting off the lake water. The sounds of bees, birds, and "lake-water lapping with low sounds by the shore" will be company enough for him. He plans to live alone. He apparently needs no one else with him; he only wants to satisfy his deep longing to return to the place of so much beauty and childhood pleasure.