ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -"The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is a twelve-line poem comprising three quatrains, written by William Butler Yeats in 1888 and first published in the National Observer in 1890.

Detailed explanation-2: -Background. Lake Isle of Innisfree is an uninhabited island within Lough Gill, in Ireland, near which Yeats spent his summers as a child. Yeats describes the inspiration for the poem coming from a “sudden” memory of his childhood while walking down Fleet Street in London in 1888.

Detailed explanation-3: -William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was an Irish poet who is today considered one of the foremost English-language poets of the 20th century. ‘’The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is one of his earliest major poems. He wrote it when he was living in London, perhaps expressing a degree of homesickness for Ireland.

Detailed explanation-4: -In this poem, the poet wants to go to Innisfree where he can live freely in his cabin. However, the present situation of the poet is just the opposite of what he wants. Overall, in the poem, the poet wants peace which according to him, can only find it near the lake of Innisfree.