the lake isle of innisfree explanation

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 honey-bee,

And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

 In the poem, ‘I’ refers to the poet. He says that he wants to go to Innisfree and what he wishes to do there. He will build a small room with the help of clay. He will make the walls of the rooms with small sticks. He will grow the nine rows of the bean near his home. He will also have a honeybee comb from which he can collect fresh honey. He says that his room will be filled with the buzzing sound of bees, and he will live alone in peace and silence there.

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.

In the second stanza, the poet says that he feels peace on Innisfree island. Further, he says that in the morning, when the clouds cannot be seen clearly, it appears as if the morning has worn a cover. This scene makes him feel more serene. He says that he enjoys the morning song of the cricket insect. At midnight, the twinkling in the sky gives him immense pleasure. In the afternoon, the purple glow of the sunlight makes him feel happy, and in the evening, he enjoys the scene of the linnet birds flying in the sky with their full wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water 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.

In the last stanza, the poet is determined to go to Innisfree. He says that he will now stand up and go to Innisfree because day or night, he hears the sound of the water hitting the shore all the time. Whenever he stands in the city, on the roadway or on the grey-coloured pavement, he hears the sound deep inside his heart.