The Lake Isle of Innisfree
William Butler Yeats
,Innisfree
Photo taken 10 January 2023
, About the poet
• William Butler Yeats, a prominent Irish poet, writer
and playwright was born in Dublin, Ireland on June 13,
1865, he died January 28, 1939, at the age of 73.
• In 1867 his family moved to London where he spent
the middle years of his life.
• He often accompanied his mother on her visits to her
parents who lived in Sligo on the west coast of
Ireland.
• Innisfree, a real place near the coast of Ireland. It is
not inhabited and is on Lough Gill, a lake in County
Sligo. This is where the young Yeats spent a lot of
time as a child and the idyllic memory remained with
him forever.
, Background to the poem
• The poem was written and published in 1893, while the poet
was living in the crowded, dirty, smog-filled London, a time
when he described himself as being ‘very homesick’.
• His homesickness centred round Sligo, where he spent much
time as a child: he longed to return to the seclusion of the
Irish countryside - to Lake Isle of Innisfree, to be specific.
• Yeats said he got the idea for the poem as he was walking
down Fleet Street in London, and heard the sound of a
water fountain in a shop window.
• It reminded him of the lapping of the water at Innisfree, and
it fed his urge to escape from the artificial life of the city, into
the peaceful surroundings of nature.
• The poem expresses the speaker's longing for the peace,
tranquillity and simplicity of the Irish countryside.
• He firmly believes that all his physical and spiritual needs will
be satisfied there.
William Butler Yeats
,Innisfree
Photo taken 10 January 2023
, About the poet
• William Butler Yeats, a prominent Irish poet, writer
and playwright was born in Dublin, Ireland on June 13,
1865, he died January 28, 1939, at the age of 73.
• In 1867 his family moved to London where he spent
the middle years of his life.
• He often accompanied his mother on her visits to her
parents who lived in Sligo on the west coast of
Ireland.
• Innisfree, a real place near the coast of Ireland. It is
not inhabited and is on Lough Gill, a lake in County
Sligo. This is where the young Yeats spent a lot of
time as a child and the idyllic memory remained with
him forever.
, Background to the poem
• The poem was written and published in 1893, while the poet
was living in the crowded, dirty, smog-filled London, a time
when he described himself as being ‘very homesick’.
• His homesickness centred round Sligo, where he spent much
time as a child: he longed to return to the seclusion of the
Irish countryside - to Lake Isle of Innisfree, to be specific.
• Yeats said he got the idea for the poem as he was walking
down Fleet Street in London, and heard the sound of a
water fountain in a shop window.
• It reminded him of the lapping of the water at Innisfree, and
it fed his urge to escape from the artificial life of the city, into
the peaceful surroundings of nature.
• The poem expresses the speaker's longing for the peace,
tranquillity and simplicity of the Irish countryside.
• He firmly believes that all his physical and spiritual needs will
be satisfied there.
