The Lake of Innisfree

I taught my classes a poem by Yeats, an Irish Laurette "The Lake Isle of Innesfree" today. Yeats spend most of his life in Ireland which he called home. Some scholars suggest that Innisfree is a place near Sligo, Ireland where he has spent most of his childhood whereas others say that Innisfree does not really exists and just exists in his mind. Whatever the theories are, we know that Innisfree is one place that he is longing to go in his life, the place where he finds his peace. To bring the poem closer to our personal life, we can say that Innisfree is a place where we really longsto go to, a place where we will find a peace of mind. Yeats Innisfree is in Ireland. My Innisfree is in Sydney (Nowra, Narrabeen , Manly, Mosman- i love North Sydney and the Northern Beaches). Where's your Innisfree? However, happiness is really a state of mind which does not always depend on where you are. What do you think about that?

The Lake Isle of Innisfree


I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
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 the water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.


William Butler Yeats, 1892