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Analyzing “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by W. B. Yeats

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W.B. Yeats was an immensely popular poet in his time, and for good reason. His poems resonate with readers for their beauty and themes. In fact, his poem, “When You Are Old,” very simply identifies aging in a creative way. These themes include universal ideas of nature, solitude, and peace. In this post, we examine his poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” which discusses these ideas. While one of his most popular, the poem is eternal in its meaning.

Format Structure of Innisfree

The poem has three quatrains, and it is written in iambic tetrameter. It also has an ABAB rhyme scheme. There is simplicity to its form, but this is intentional. Additionally, it uses repetition to repeat the important ideas of determination to escape from the confines of their life. There is peace in this simple verse.

Themes of Innisfree

The themes in the poem include those of solitude, nature’s healing, and imagination. To begin, the solitude of this poem is found in the speaker’s disdain for “pavements gray,” and his want of a “small cabin” that consists “of clay and wattles.”

Likewise, there is an emphasis on the healing power of nature. Yeats writes, “Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, / An live alone in the bee-loud glade.” Yeats’s yearning for such agrarian existence shows his interest in the natural world. In addition, the themes of imagination come through in Yeats’s want of this faraway, natural world. Imagination, in this way, takes Yeats to a land of carefree calm.

Conclusion

Yeats’s poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” speaks to the authors need to escape the world as we know it. In pining for nature, he imagines himself in a land of peace. The structure of this poem speaks to this simplicity. As in one’s desires and love of imagined worlds, Yeats simplistic poem gives way to complex understandings. Leaving the concrete jungle of urban life for rural serenity is a dream of many.

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“On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins

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Billy Collins’ poem “On Turning Ten” is a fun poetry that explores all of the resonate qualities of a poem. It is philosophical about youth and discusses the relevancy of thinking about life from evolving eyes. Collins also nails the feeling of being a kid and what matters, especially during childhood. Technology was different when I was younger, not for better or worse, so I really identify with his thoughts on looking at the changing colors of his bike or playing fantastical pretend. This poem also briefly discusses the condescension that older people often pass onto younger people—a carpe diem mentality that only appears when trying to pass wisdom. But this sort of wisdom never really sheds any light on the pain we feel when falling upon “the sidewalks of life.”

“On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I’m coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light–
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it._

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number._

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

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Exploring Sestina Poem Examples and Their Unique Features

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Poems are a fun, complex thing. They can take many forms, from acrostic to haikus. Likewise, some poems take the sestina verse form, which have their own complex way about them. In this post, we will define these types of poems and look at a few examples.

Background

The sestina was developed by Arnaut Daniel, who was a troubadour during the 12th century, and the first known example of his craft was “lo ferm voler qu’el cor m’intra,” which was written around 1200.

Many sestinas were about “courtly love” and were practiced by Dante and Petrarch. Similarly, the form has taken on many variations, including double sestinas and tritina (poets.org).

Definition

As mentioned, poems are intricate, and sestina verse form is a great example of that complexity.

“The sestina is a complex, thirty-nine-line poem featuring the intricate repetition of end-words in six stanzas and envoi” states some sources (poets.org). An envoi, in this case, is just a brief stanza at the end of a poem that either addresses the poem or acts as explanatory remarks.

“The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different order as end words in each of the subsequent five stanzas; the closing envoi contains all six words, two per line, placed in the middle and at the end of the three lines” (poetryfoundation)

A sestina would look like this in scheme:

ABCDEF

FAEBDC

CFDABE

ECBFAD

DEACFB

BDFECA

ECA or ACE

Examples of Sestinas

  1. Elizabeth Bishop’s “A Miracle for Breakfast” 
  2. Camille Guthrie’s “Beautiful Poetry”
  3. John Ashbery’s “Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape.”
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“I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane Analysis

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In the literary realism movement, we have a great deal of authors and their novels doing some heavy lifting. In today’s post, a poem titled “I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane will do the work.

Analysis of “I saw a man pursuing the horizon”

In the first stanza of the poem, Crane discusses seeing a man “pursuing the horizon.” For what purpose, we are yet to be sure. But, we know that as he watched the man, he goes “round and round,” speeding toward the destination.

Yet, the man’s strange pursuit “disturbed” the speaker. So, he engages the man. He tells him, “‘It is futile,'” I said, / ‘You can never–‘” Then the man cries, “You lie!” and runs on toward the horizon.

In this brief poem, Crane epitomizes a few things as it relates to human error. First, the poem addresses humanity’s fascination with futility. That is to say, even if something is not worth pursuing because it is hopeless, humanity has a way to strive straight for it head first. Second, Crane points out that no matter if humanity is confronted by their own ignorance, there narrowmindedness is so strident that even the obvious could not deter them.

Crane writes “round and round” not because the man is making a beeline toward the horizon. Rather that he is trapped in a desert loop, forever hunting for the horizon. It is in this realization that we understand the mocking nature that man must presume he is near when laboring under delusions. In “I saw a man pursuing the horizon,” Crane is letting his cynicism outward into the light. In other words, humanity will have their joyous ending whether it is there or not, and whether it kills them in following it or not.

The poem fits the literary realism only in its pessimistic view of humanity. It is certainly a view fellow literary realist writer Mark Twain would agree with. The desperate nature for humans to get what they want is unquenchable in Crane’s eyes. That does ring true if one considers historical accounts of bad decisions and outright irrational behavior for something as grand as catching the horizon.

Works Cited

Crane, Stephen. “I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon.” The Red Badge of Courage, Dover Publications, 1997, pp. 171-172.

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Reflections on Mortality in ‘End of Summer’ by Kunitz

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Today, I thought that I would share my analysis of the poem “End of Summer” by Stanley Kunitz. I love it dearly. Particularly, the second-to-last stanza. It reminds me that even though life moves quickly, it is okay to sit back and reflect on the days gone by. Hopefully, it does that for you, too. The poem can be found here.

Analysis of “End of Summer”

In the first stanza, Kunitz discusses how he experienced an unsavory year. With that knowledge, he looks to the future as “the unloved year / Would turn on its hinge that night.” In the next stanza, he writes about the “stubble and stones.” In it, he talks about his waking mortality by using “a small worm” and referencing “my marrow-bones.”

Yet, in the next stanza, Kunitz writes, “Blue poured into summer blue, / A hawk broke from his cloudless tower, / The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew / That part of my life was over.” Specifically, if you have ever looked out over a field at the end of summer, you know what the author is saying. The golden sun shining on a vibrant, green and darkened hill then you know exactly what Kunitz is writing about. Death is a far-reaching theme in poetry.

In other words, life is fleeting and we forget that fact. As each year passes, our mortality becomes more and more relevant. To this extent, Kunitz’s poem brilliantly addresses this feeling. It delivers such emotion to the reader for us to chews over.

Works Cited

Kunitz, Stanley. “End of Summer.” The Collected Poems, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp. 145-146.

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“Howl” as Read by Allen Ginsberg

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In today’s post, we listen to Allen Ginsberg read his infamous poem “Howl.” While accused of being obscene, this poem conveys a changing dynamic in American culture. The freedom and breakaway from the 1950s-1960s culture was becoming apparent, and this poem embodies that message. There are many universal themes in poetry, but “Howl” tapped into the minds and feelings of a generation.

“Howl” discusses many themes, but relies on its outside approach to conveying themes and messages. It is considered a significant work of the Beat Generation, which was already in full swing against the establishment. The poem has three sections, and each one critiques different aspects of society, discussing personal freedom, mental illness, and oppressive society.

The poem also discuss disillusionment with 1950s culture, and the nature of capitalism as a negative principle. It often refers to “Moloch” within the poem as a monstrous force. Similarly, it discusses how those with different ideas do not fit within the confines of a stratified society. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” Ginsberg writes. In addition, Ginsberg talks about sexuality in varying degrees, from homosexuality to heterosexuality. Lastly, the poem discusses Ginsberg’s outlook on the holy and the reverent by mixing mystical and theological imagery.

“Howl” as Read by Allen Ginsberg