The Lake Isle of Innisfree

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1890

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Innisfree

Innisfree is a small, uninhabited island situated in the northern part of County Sligo, Ireland. It is surrounded by the waters of Lough Gill, hence the term in the title, “lake isle.” Ireland itself is also completely surrounded by water, with the Atlantic to its west, the Irish Sea separating it from England, and the Celtic Sea to its south. Innisfree, therefore, by similarity of locale, serves as a symbol for Ireland itself. The desire the speaker feels to reside on Innisfree can be looked at as their desire to return to Ireland, or in Yeats’s particular case, his Irish roots. Rejecting the polluted and overcrowded London for Innisfree, the speaker believes, would allow a return to the mythic and natural world to which the speaker truly belongs. Innisfree—and Ireland—are both connected to the “deep heart’s core” (Line 12). The heart is an echo as well of a beloved island since it is metaphorically surrounded by the rest of the body, which it pumps life into.

The Linnet

The common linnet is a small bird similar to a house finch. Its name derives from its tendency to eat flax, which in Latin is called linum. It is common to the United Kingdom and large flocks may form while breeding, which usually happens along shorelines—this may account for Yeats’s description of the bird along Innisfree. Like many songbirds, linnets were kept in cages in Victorian households, as a reminder of rural life and beauty, which fits with the image of the island within in the speaker’s heart. The linnet is also associated with Brigid, a pre-Christian goddess who often appears in Irish folklore as a goddess of wisdom, protection, and healing. She is also the patron goddess of poets. Supposedly when linnets sing, Brigid sends her blessings to the people of Ireland. The Celts also see the linnet as a symbol of balance, peace, and harmony, all subjects touched on in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”

Bees and Honey

The choice of the speaker to have a “hive for the honey-bee” (Line 3) at his retreat in Innisfree is symbolically important. In mythology, bees are thought to be messengers between the spiritual world and our own. The patron saint of bees is an Irish saint named Gobnait who is famous for her use of honey in healing the sick. There is also an ancient legend that when one dies, the soul departs the body as a bee. This in turn is what spurred the tradition of telling the bees, the practice of seeing bees as an extended part of the family and therefore notifying them of marriages, births, and deaths. Even today, black ribbons are placed on beehives when family members die. Yeats’s speaker returning to Innisfree to “live alone in the bee-loud glade” (Line 4) suggests not only solitude but also going back to where they will receive familial and ancestral support.