In the article, “How to Read a Poem” by Edward Hirsch, he describes the act of completion when reading poetry, is to step into the imaginative play of the poem. So as I read, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W.B. Yeats, I took part of this imaginative play was by first reciting the poem at different tempos. To see if there was a rhythm I needed to find so I can find the flow of the poem. I tried different ones, like from how I would read ” Mary had a little lamb”. I kept trying until there was a flow connecting the words that rhymed, which was every other line. I also found myself searching for a theme. I noticed there was a lot of mention of things that create sounds from nature. For example, “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.” or ” Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee; And live alone in the bee-loud glade.” As I re-read it, I found myself playing the sounds of nature he described, in my head to create the atmosphere. I, without trying, played along with the visuals given to me in the poem. Trying to bring it to life to see what about it felt peaceful. Every sound they found pleasant were low, fluttering and from nature. It almost felt like a picture puzzle in my head as I tried to envision the meaning. and feeling, through visualizing.
Daily Archives: November 7, 2022
In the poem The Lake Isle Innisfree by W. B. Yeats. The poets fantasize about going to a peaceful life in Innisfree where he would build a small cabin of clay and waffles (line 1). He was providing a great vision of a place where he was going be at peace, he hopes to plant nine rows of beans in a clearing (line 3) which would buzz with sound of honey bees tending to a hive. he believes that this place would bring him peace. Maybe the message he was trying to send was that he wasn’t happy where he were and he needed to escape to an environment where he would be happy. He needed to be around nature and natural beauty, he mentioned “I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore” (line 10) that gave him pleasure just to enjoy it which gave him solace and comforts. This also teaches us that when things get overwhelming we should also build a cabin of solitary place.
