NCERT Solutions for Class 9 English Poem Chapter 4 The Lake Isle Of Innisfree

NCERT Class 9 Beehive Page No. 54

Thinking about Poem
I. 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).

Answer:

Innisfree is a natural place which full of beauty and peace.

(i) Three things the poet wants to do when he goes back there are:

  • He wants to build a small cabin of clay and wattles.
  • He wants to plant nine rows of beans.
  • He wants to have a hive of honey bees.

(ii) The poet hears the cricket’s song. He sees midnight shine and a purple glow at noon. Evenings are full of linnet wings. All this makes him feel joyous and gives him peace of mind.

(iii) The poet hears the sound of the lake water washing the shore in his “heart’s core”.

All Chapters: CBSE Class 9 English Syllabus 2020-21

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).

Answer:

The poet contrasts the natural beauty of Innisfree with the roads and the dull, grey pavements of the city.

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?

Answer:

Innisfree is not just the creation of the poet’s fancy but a real and natural place which is full of beauty and peace. The poet wishes to live at such a beautiful and peaceful place.

Yes, the poet misses the place of his boyhood days a lot. He can hear the sound of the lake water washing the shore in his heart’s core, even when he is away from Innisfree.

NCERT Class 9 Beehive Page No. 55

II. 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?

Answer:

(i) These words create an image of buzzing bees in the glade.
(ii) These words create an image of linnets flying across an evening sky.
(iii) These words not only create a blissful picture in our minds but also evoke the soft sound of a lake’s water washing the shore.

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?

Answer:

The given lines indicate that peace of mind can be acquired naturally in a tranquil place like Innisfree.
It is calmness and tranquility that “comes dropping slow…from the veils of the morning”.
The phrase “to where the cricket sings” indicates a peaceful place where one can hear the vibrant sounds of crickets at the time of dawn.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Extra Questions and Answers Class 9 English Beehive

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type

Question 1.
Describe the Lake Isle of Innisfree as seen through the eyes of the poet.
Answer:
The Lake Isle of Innisfree is an island that is incredibly peaceful. The island is also a place of great natural beauty. Yeats describes many different aspects of its appeal, from the various birds and insects to the striking light at different times of day. This is a landscape that has not been damaged or diminished by human interference.

Question 2.
Why does the poet want to go to Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet wants to go Innisfree in search of peace. He does not like London with its noise and grey pavements. He wants to live in a place which is the opposite of London; he craves for some peace and hence he wants to go to Innisfree where he will be self-sufficient. He will build a small cabin and grow beans and make his own honey by keeping honeybees. Instead of city noise, he will hear the buzzing of the bees and the sound of lake water lapping against the shore.

Question 3.
How is the city life different from the life at the Lake of Innisfree?
Answer:
City life according to the poet is routine and wearisome. The city is noisy, the pavements are dull and grey; there is chaos all around. But at Innisfree, he can escape the noise of the city and be lulled by the “lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.” On this small island, he can return to nature by growing beans and having bee hives, by enjoying the “purple glow” of noon, the sounds of birds’ wings, and, of course, the bees. He can even build a cabin and stay on the island.

Question 4.
What kind of life does the poet William Butler Yeats imagine in his poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”?
Answer:
Yeats imagines Innisfree as an idyllic place of peace and solitude. He imagines living in a “small cabin” of “clay and wattles” where he will support himself on beans he plants and honey from his beehive, and he will “live alone in the bee-loud glade.” There is also a sense that the “peace” he will find there is connected to its natural beauty.

Question 5.
Write three things that the poet would like to do when he goes back to Innisfree.
Answer:
Innisfree is a perfect island that provides everything desired by the poet. The poet will build a small cabin of clay and fence. He will have nine rows of beans. He will also have a hive for the honeybees.

Question 6.
How will the poet live on the island of Innisfree ?
Answer:
The poet will go to Innisfree and live in the lap of nature in quiet solitude. He will build a small cabin there. He shall have nine rows of beans and a hive of bees. He will survive on the beans and the honey cultivated by himself.

Question 7.
Why does the speaker in the poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” desire to spend his time alone in his cabin?
Answer:
The speaker longs for a quiet place where he can live in peace and in harmony with nature. He envisions a simple life in a cottage surrounded by a garden instead of the dull “pavement” of the city. In his mind, he hears the gentle “lapping” of the water against its shore, the bee loud glade instead of the noise of city traffic. And he will be self-sufficient, growing his own food.

Question 8.
‘And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow.” Where will the poet have some peace ? How?
Answer:
The poet indicates that peace of mind can be slowly acquired in the lap of Nature. From the morning, when the mist is like a veil thrown over the lake, to the noon when the purple heather blazes finder the sun and the evening is Ml of the sound of the linnet’s wings and finally, at night, the glow of stars lighting up the sky, the poet will have peace.

Question 9.
How does the poet describe the lake’s waves?
Answer:
The poet says that the lake’s waves hit its shore and create a low sound. The sound, different from the sounds of the city, gives him great pleasure. He hears it in his heart and enjoys it. It also gives him solace and comfort as he realises he can visualise the island in his heart in the city.

Question 10.
How is the ‘roadway in London’ different from the Lake Isle of Innisfree?
Answer:
The roadway in London is dull and grey. But there is nature’s beauty all round in the isle of Innisfree. The poet finds himself surrounded by the beauty of nature and its sounds. He hears the sweet sound of the lake water lapping against the shore.

Question 11.
What does the poet hear in his ‘heart’s core’ even when he is far away from Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet is far away from the island of Innisfree in London. However, he hears not the sound of city traffic, but the lake water lapping against the shore with low sounds in his heart’s core.

Question 12.
What words does the poet use to describe how calmness and tranquillity will come to him at Innsifree?
Answer:
The poet declares that he will get up and go to Innisfree, where he will build a small cabin “of clay and wattles made.” There, he will have nine bean-rows and a beehive and live alone in the glade loud with the sound of bees. He says that he will have peace there, for peace drops from “the veils of morning to where the cricket sings.”

Question 13.
How does the poet describe midnight, noon and evening?
Answer:
According to the poet, Innisfree is a magical place. In the morning, the mist is like veils thrown over the lake. At noon, the purple heather blazes under the sun, and the sky glows with a purple glow. In the evening, the environment is filled with the chirping of crickets and the fluttering of the linnet’s wings. In the night, the bright stars cause the sky to shimmer.

Question 14.
Innisfree is a simple, natural place, full of beauty and peace. How does the poet contrast it with where he now stands?
Answer:
The poet contrasts the clay and wattle made cabin, bee-loud glade, morning with dews and cricket songs, midnight with its sky filled with glimmering stars, noon with purple glow that is almost magical, evenings filled with the sound of the flapping of linnet’s wings, and lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore as compared to the sombre monotony of the “grey” London pavements and the sound of traffic.

Question 15.
Where is the speaker when he hears lake water lapping?
Answer:
The speaker says he is standing “on the roadway, or on the pavements grey”. Yeats was walking down the Strand in London, when a fountain in a shop reminded him of lake water lapping against the shore at Innisfree.

Question 16.
In “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” what does the poet feel while standing on the pavement?
Answer:
The speaker in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” is clearly in an urban environment, London, as he thinks about Innisfree. He stands “on the roadway, or on the pavements grey”. He says he will have peace in Innisfree, implying he is not at peace here in the city. His tone expresses his regret that he is so far from where his heart tells him he should be.

Question 17.
What does Innisfree symbolize for the poet? Does the poet actually miss the place of his boyhood days?
Answer:
Innisfree represents poet’s state of mind. The poet wishes to escape to Innisfree as it is more peaceM than where he is now-the city. Innisfree is representative of what the poet considers an ideal place to live, which is devoid of the restless humdrum of his life. Yes, the poet actually misses the place of his boyhood days. Even when he is away from Innisfree, he recalls the sound of the lake water washing the shore.

Question 18.
What is the tone of the poem?
Answer:
The poem has a very calm and relaxed tone. The speaker starts on a dreamy, with note, but as he pictures the place in his mind, it helps him to make up his mind. His desire to escape becomes stronger and he determinedly repeats his desire to escape. Finally, the poet has a relaxed tone as the speaker realises that even though he lives in an urban area, he will hear the sounds of tranquil nature resonate in the deepest part of his being.

Question 19.
What sound is the poet looking forward to hear in Innisfree?
Answer:
The speaker wants to be surrounded by the sounds of nature. The glade or the clearing he lives in will be filled with the sound of bees buzzing and the fluttering of birds’ wings, as also, the peaceful sounds of the cricket.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type

Question 1.
Briefly describe the major theme of the poem ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, Nature vs City life.
Answer:
A major theme in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”, is nature versus the somber monotony of city life. Civilization, as represented by London, is monotonous and wearisome. On the other hand, Innisfree is magical with its He is not at peace, because peace is there only at Innisfree. Further, his use of “pavements gray” tells us that the urban environment in which he finds himself is exactly the opposite of the natural world he desires to return to.

On the other hand, Innisfree, which represents Nature, is magical in its appearance. The sounds one hears are the buzzing of bees, the flapping of the linnets’ wings, the singing of crickets and the lapping of the lake water aginst the shores. The sky is magical too. The dew drops from the sky in the morning light, the noon sky glows purple and the stars shimmer at midnight.

Question 2.
How does Yeats create the atmosphere of the island and its sights and sounds in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”? Refer closely to the use of language in the first two stanzas.
Answer:
The speaker begins by declaring that he will rise and go to Innisfree, a small island in the middle of Lough Gill, located in County Slogh. There the speaker will construct a cabin of mud and intertwined twigs or branches. He will lead a life of peace and quiet solitude, keeping busy with his garden of beans and a beehive.

The speaker reiterates that he will find calm in the dripping morning dew and singing crickets in the morning light, and this calm will continue throughout the day, when the sky glows purple in the noon and he hears the beating or finches’ wings in the evening, and finally, when the sky shimmers in the light of the stars at midnight.

Question 3.
In W.B. Yeats’s poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” what indications does the speaker give of his present environment?
Answer:
The first line of the poem makes it clear that the speaker is not at Innisfree. In this line, he expresses his wish to go there. Given his peaceful, idealistic description of Innisfree as a magical place that he would want to escape to, we might surmise that his current environment is quite different. If he longs so badly to escape to such a place, perhaps his current environment is bland, boring, oppressive.

He will have peace at Innisfree in the lap of Nature, implying he does not have peace where he is at present. He also brings out the sombre, monotony of the “grey” London pavements and the sound of traffic, by contrasting them with the sounds of bees, birds and crickets and the colours of the sky.

Question 4.
Explain the contrast between the last four lines of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” and the rest of the poem.
Answer:
In the opening lines of the poem, the poet’s tone is dreamy and hopeful as the poet declares his intention of going to Innisfree. This is mainly achieved by the use of the future tense and the speaker’s desire to “arise and go now” to Innisfree. The speaker is sure he will live happily, will build his own home and grow and harvest his own food.

Innisfree takes on a magical character in the second stanza. The buzzing of the bees has, quietened and has been replaced by the gentler noise of crickets, the air is filled with birds in flight, and night and day have reversed their roles: “midnight’s all a glimmer and noon a purple glow.” It is also a place where peace is slow in coming but arrives nonetheless.

The reader is, however, aware that the speaker is not where he wishes to be, yet. The longing becomes more intense in the final stanza when the speaker says he hears the call to go to Innisfree “always night and day” and is even more determined to go to Innisfree. There is a sharp tone shift in the final two lines created by use of present tense “I stand” and “I hear”.

The soothing tone and mood is abruptly cut off and replaced by cold reality and the imagery of the street – to “roadway” and “pavements grey”. The speaker would rather not be where he is in that moment and his tone is sombre. But this mood does not last, as the speaker shifts to the present tense showing that though he stands on the “grey” pavement, he can access Innisfree in his own heart at any time.

Question 5.
Why does the poet want to go Innisfree?
Answer:
The speaker is standing on the pavement in London. He is surrounded by the sombre monotony of “grey” roadway and pavement and the sound of traffic. In that moment, perhaps fed up of the hubbub of the city life, the speaker decides to go to Innisfree. There, the speaker will construct a cabin of mud and intertwined twigs. In a life of quiet solitude, the speaker will keep busy with his garden of beans and a beehive. The speaker reiterates that he will find calm in the easy pace of dripping dew and singing crickets in the morning light, and this calm will continue throughout the day, the purple glow of the afternoon, and the beating of finches’ wings in the evening and shimmering of stars in the sky at midnight.

Question 6.
In the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree’, what does the poet find so attractive about ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’.
Answer:
The thing that the poet finds so attractive about Lake Isle of Innisfree is its promise of peace. The poet, who stays in London, longs for this place, in the lap of Nature, which affords a sense of contentment and relaxation far from the busy modem life. He remembers the beauty of Innisfree and the simple life he can lead there in quiet solitude. He will build a cabin and live on beans and honey which he will cultivate himself. He dreams of living in a delightful environment listening to the buzzing of bees, the songbirds and crickets at dusk and lake water lapping against the shores. He wishes to escape to a beautiful place with wonderful light and colour.

Question 7.
Does the poet wish to escape reality in The Lake Isle of Innisfree?
Answer:
The Isle of Innisfree is a place of escape for the speaker, who is unhappy living in the city. The thing that the poet finds so attractive about Lake Isle of Innisfree is its promise of peace. The speaker describes Innisfree as a simple, natural environment where he will build a cabin and live alone in the lap of nature.

He talks of the island as an inherently restorative place where human beings can go to escape the chaos and cheerless monotony of city life. The poet, then, longs for this place which affords a sense of contentment and relaxation far from the busy modem life. The poem’s slow and regular meter helps to convey this languid, dreamy effect.

There is also the vivid impressionistic description of the colours and beauties of this place, and the soothing stir of nature which is so different from the strident noise of the city where the poet actually is, as the final stanza makes clear. The poet, who is physically trapped in the city, imagines the beauty of Innisfree and this gives him spiritual sustenance in an increasingly fast-paced, modem world.

However, the speaker is only dreaming of “getting away from it all. Even if he never goes, he will at least escape to this Garden of Eden in his mind. He can imagine the escape as he can will himself to hear the lake water lapping even while he stands on the pavement in the city.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree Extra Questions and Answers Reference to Context

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

Question 1.
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.

(a) Who does T refer to in the stanza?
Answer:
I is the speaker/ the poet William Butler Yeats

(b) Where is he at the present moment?
Answer:
He is walking down a road in London.

(c) Where does he want to go?
Answer:
He wants to go to the lake island of Innisfree, a place where he had spent a lot of time as a boy.

(d) What does he wish to do there?
Answer:
He wishes to build a small hut of clay and wattles. He will sow nine rows of beans and keep a hive for the honeybee.

Question 2.
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.

(a) Name the poetic device used in the first line.
Answer:
Allusion: The poet’s declaration ‘’I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree” echoes the words of the prodigal son in the Bible when he says, ‘’I will arise and go to my father.”

(b) What does the word ‘there’ in the above lines refer to?
Answer:
‘There’ in the above lines refer to Lake Isle of Innisfree.

(c) Why does the poet wish to do go to Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet wishes to live in the lap of Nature, away from the hubbub of the city.

(d) What does the stanza suggest about the poet?
Answer:
The poet loves to live in the lap of nature.

Question 3.
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 evenings full of the linnet’s wings.

(a) What is the poet going there to find?
Answer:
The poet hopes to find peace in Innisfree.

(b) Explain: What do you think “for peace comes dropping slow/ Dropping from the veils of the morning”?
Answer:
The given lines indicate that peace of mind can be slowly acquired from the natural surroundings. It is peace that comes slowly, falling like morning mist from the sky and slowly fades away until it is night.

(c) How has noon been described in the stanza?
Answer:
Noon has been described as a purple glow. Here, a purple glow in the sky gives noon a magical quality. The poet could also be referring to the sight of purple flowers of heather in the afternoon

(d) What is a ‘Linnet’?
Answer:
A mainly brown and grey finch with a reddish breast and forehead.

Question 4.
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 evenings full of the linnet’s wings.

(a) Where is the poet at the moment?
Answer:
He is standing on a pavement in London, imagining he is at Innisfree.

(b) What did the poet see in the morning?
Answer:
The poet saw dewdrops which seemed to be dropping from the skies and which brought peace.

(c) What did the poet hear?
Answer:
The poet heard the singing of the crickets and the flapping of the linnet’s wings.

(d) How does peace come in the morning?
Answer:
The peace comes dropping in the form of dewdrops in the morning when the sun rises from behind the curtains of mist. It gives immense pleasure to the poet.

Question 5.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the 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.

(a) What is the poet’s tone as he repeats “I will arise and go now”?
Answer:
The poet is determined to go back to Innisfree.

(b) What does the poet hear?
Answer:
The hears the lake water lapping with low sounds against the shore.

(c) What do you learn about the poet in this stanza?
Answer:
The poet loves nature and is determined to return to live with nature.

(d) How does the poet contrast London and Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet contrasts the colours of nature with the grey of the London streets.

Question 6.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear the 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.

(a) Explain the line “lake water lapping with low sounds”.
Answer:
The poet hears the quiet sound of lake’s waves as they gently break on the shore.

(b) Bring out the internal rhyme used in the above lines.
Answer:
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey

(c) Why does the poet want to go to Lake Isle of Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet is unhappy with the life in the city. He wants to lead a peaceful life in the lap of nature. He wants to go to Innisfree because it is natural place full of beauty.

(d) Why is the poet looking for peace in Innisfree?
Answer:
The poet is living in London at the moment. He does not find peace in the city.

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