1. Look at the words the poet uses to describe what he sees and hears at Innisfree

(i) Bee-loud glade

(ii) Evenings full of the linnet’s wings

(iii) Lake water lapping with low sounds 

What pictures do these words create in your mind?

2. Look at these words:

...peace comes dropping slow

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings 

What do these words mean to you? What do you think “comes dropping slow...from the veils of the morning”? What does “to where the cricket sings” mean?

1. What kind of place is Innisfree? Think about:

(i) the three things the poet wants to do when he goes back there (stanza I);

(ii) what he hears and sees there and its effect on him (stanza II);

(iii) what he hears in his “heart’s core” even when he is far away from Innisfree (stanza III).

2. By now you may have concluded that Innisfree is a simple, natural place, full of beauty and peace. How does the poet contrast it with where he now stands? (Read stanza III).

3. Do you think Innisfree is only a place, or a state of mind? Does the poet actually miss the place of his boyhood days?