The Lake Isle of Innisfree

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 honey-bee;

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 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.

~William Butler Yeats

I became acquainted with the poetry of William Butler Yeats in a college course on Irish literature a few years ago, and I particularly enjoyed this poem for the images of solitude and simple living close to the land. I also liked it because it very much reminded me of Henry David Thoreau's "Walden." As it turns out, Yeats was a fan of Thoreau as well, and "Walden" was an inspiration for this poem. Great minds do think alike.

I needlefelted this wool wall hanging of what I imagine such a place would look like. I like to think of the occupant of this cabin hoeing bean rows and tending the hive of bees, enjoying a very simple life.