and a small cabin build there, of lay and wattles made:
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
and live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
dropping from the veils of the morning to where the Cricket sings;
There midnight´s all a glimmer and noon a purple glow,
and evening full of the Linnet´s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day,
I hear lake waters lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey
I hear it in the deep heart´s core.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS was an Irish poet and playwright, winner of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature, and one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. In 1893 he published "The Celtic Twilight", a collection of poems about Ireland and Irish legends and myths. He was quite involved in Irish politics and he believed in the power of literature to bring a sense of unity to Ireland.
This is what Yeats himself says about his own poem:
"I am going to begin with a poem of mine called 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' because if you know anything about me you will expect me to begin with it. It is the only poem of mine which is very widely known. When I was a young lad in the town of Sligo I read Thoreau's essays and wanted to live in a hut on an island in Lough Gill called Innisfree which means 'Heather Island'. I wrote the poem in London when I was about twenty three: one day in The Strand I heard a little tinkle of water and saw in a shop window a little jet of water balancing a ball on the top - it was an advertisement, I think, for cooling drinks - but it set me thinking of Sligo and lake water. I think there is only one obscurity in the poem - I speak of noon as a 'purple glow' - I must have meant by that the reflection of heather in the water"
After reading the poem try to answer the following questions:
1. What is suggested about the narrator by his desire to live on an unpopulated island? Might the island symbolyse something else?
2. We have an interesting use of imagery in the poem. Look for some examples of powerful images.
3. Look for one example of personification and metaphor.
4. The poem is also quite musical. Look for examples of alliteration.
5. Describe the place the narrator models in the poem and analyze the structure of his "fictional" space.
6. Analyze the syntactical structrure of sentences and look for repetitions, parallelisms, lexical repetitions and discuss about the effect of that.
The Stolen Child is one of Yeats´ earliest poems. It is based on the myths and legends he heard from local people while growing up in County Sligo. He makes reference to a fantasy world where it is possible to obtain freedom and retain innocence. The image of the child taken away into a fairyland was quite popular in the Irish folklore. The child can´t help following the fairies because they are so enchanting and the new world he sees in front of him is so joyful and playful. Even though the child is unhurt, the reader can´t avoid a sense of uneasiness and confusion.
Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we´ve hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world´s more full of weeping than you can understand
Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world´s more full of weeping than you can understand.
Where the wandering water gushes
From the fills abovae Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world´s more full of weeping than you can understand.
Away with us he´s going,
The solemn-eyed:
He´ll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand
For the world´s more full of weeping than he can understand.
Answer the following questions:
1. In the poem we have an ideal vision of Ireland and he uses a very effective imagery to achieve that. Find some examples.
2. Rhyme and Rhythm.
3. There is a refrain in the poem. What effect does it have on the reader?
4. We have the use of alliterations and repetition. Can you find some examples?
5. The language used is mellow and dreamlike. Can you look for some examples? What´s the purpose of using this type of words?
6. Is the child going away freely? Analyze the role of the fairies. Are they good or sinister and evil?
7. Two worlds are continously contrasted. Which ones and why?
