Important Question and Answers
Q. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine beans row will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And I live alone in the bee loud glade.
- What does the poet wish to build at Innisfree?
- What does ‘Innisfree’ symbolise?
- Why does the poet wish to stay at Innisfree?
- Find a word from the passage which means the same as ‘only’.
Answer
- The poet wishes to build a small cabin at Innisfree to be made with sticks and clay.
- Innisfree symbolises a place of peace and tranquility.
- The poet wishes to stay at Innisfree because of following reasons:
- To live in peaceful environment
- To escape from the hectic schedule of city life
- alone
Q. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
- What does the word ‘there’ in the above lines refer to?
- How does peace enter the huts of peasants?
- What does the poet wish to have?
- Name the literary device used in the poem.
Answer
- ‘There’ in the above lines refers to Lake Isle of Innisfree.
- Peace enters the huts of peasants through the morning dew drops.
- peace
- metaphor
Q. Why does the poet want to go to Innisfree?
Ans. The poet wants to go to Innisfree in search of peace. He does not like the noisy place as London is. The poet craves for some peace and hence he wants to go to Innisfree. There he wants to make a small cabin and grow beans. He wants to live there alone.
Q. How are noon, evening and midnight at the lake isle of Innisfree?
Ans. The noon has a purple glow. The midnight is shiny. The evening is full of linnet’s wings.
Q. What things does the poet wish to have in Innisfree?
Ans. The poet wishes to have a small cabin of clay and wattles, nine bean rows and a hive for honeybees. He wants to be alone at that place.
Q. Describe the person, the place or the things brought vividly to life by the poet.
Ans. The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W. B. Yeats vividly describes a lake island in Innisfree. The island is an incredibly peaceful place. The island is also a place of great natural beauty. Yeats describes many different aspects of its appeal, from the various birds and insects to the striking light at different times of day. This is a landscape that has not been damaged or diminished by human interference.
Q. Was poet Yeats in love with Innisfree? How can you say so?
Ans. Yes, the poet Yeats was in love with Innisfree. One can say so because he wants to rise, go to Lake Innisfree and live there alone. The poet also says that it is at Lake Innisfree that he gets peace. The poet finds a kindred spirit in Lake Innisfree and therefore, we can say that he was in love with Innisfree.
Q. How is the city life different from the life at the Lake of Innisfree?
Ans. The poet does not like the city life. The pavements are dull and grey. There is chaos all around in England. But there is nature’s beauty in Innisfree. It is like a dream place for the poet that actually exists in reality. There is a perfect harmony on the island between the plants and the weather.
Q. How will the poet get peace in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’?
Ans. The poet will get peace from snow that the morning will bring with it. There will be snow everywhere, till the cricket sings. The poet will get peace from living all alone near the lake of Innisfree in a small cabin made of clay and wattles. Amidst the nature, in the bee-loud glade, he will have just nine-bean rows and a hive for honey bees. The poet will sit by the shore and hear peace in the low sound of the lapping lake water. This will also shower peace on him. The poet will hear the resonance of this lake’s low sound in his heart. He will enjoy the midnight’s glimmer and the purple-hued noon. The flights of the linnet will also bring peace to the poet.
Q. What is the tone of the poem?
Ans. The poem has a very calm and relaxing tone. The reader may very well imagine a person physically going to this place called Innisfree, but the narrator of the poem is visiting this place in his imagination. It helps him to relax and escape the rush of modern living.
Q. Briefly describe one major theme of the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree.
Ans. A major theme in The Lake Isle of Innisfree, is nature versus civilization. What we value in life is often the exact opposite of what civilization brings with it. Nature allows us to explore the various forms of life but, civilization has set certain rules we have to abide by.
Q. Does the poem celebrate the theme of escapism? Explain.
Ans. The poem focuses on Innisfree as a place of escape for the speaker. The speaker describes Innisfree as a simple, natural environment where he will build a cabin and live all by himself. The Lake Isle of Innisfree expresses the idea that nature provides an inherently restorative place, where human beings can go to escape the chaos and corrupting influences of civilization. In this poem, the speaker/Yeats longs to live in the simplicity of nature, with no extraneous distractions of city life or the superfluous habits, customs, and daily routines of an increasingly fast-paced, modern world. The speaker is only dreaming of ‘getting away from it all’. Even if he never goes, he will at least have the mental escape. This is the saving grace; even if he can not get out of the city, he can imagine to escape himself to hear the lake water lapping even while standing on the pavement in the city. There is another appeal/implication that one can never go back to the past place of nostalgia and youth, but through imagination and reflection, one can always have the mental escape and memory of another time and place.