The Lake Isle of Innisfree: A memory

William Butler Yeats

It’s time for a new Memory, the side of Poetry & Process where we come together to memorize poetry. We conduct this practice to engrain words of meaning into our minds, bodies, and beings that will serve as a companion during our walk through life. While each life is unique, the situations we encounter and the emotions we face have been felt by many who have walked before us. Poems we know deeply can speak what we need to hear at the most opportune times.

Before we jump in, I would like to provide a quick update on the planned cadence of Memory. We will focus on one poem per month, to allow more time for the process of memorization, exploration of the themes, and discovery of the emotion of each piece. Going forward, each new Memory poem will be published on the 1st of the month. As always, paid subscribers will have access to the Memory community chat.

You do not have to be good…

- Brian

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Photo by Mick Haupt

For the second half of May , we turn our attention to a poem of nature, longing, and the inner world by a well known Irish poet…

The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats

Text:

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.

Spoken:

Video:

The Poet:

If you are interested in W.B. Yeats biography, check out this summary on Britannica.

As someone who just turned 40, I feel especially inspired by this excerpt…

Had Yeats ceased to write at age 40, he would probably now be valued as a minor poet writing in a dying Pre-Raphaelite tradition that had drawn renewed beauty and poignancy for a time from the Celtic revival. There is no precedent in literary history for a poet who produces his greatest work between the ages of 50 and 75. Yeats’s work of this period takes its strength from his long and dedicated apprenticeship to poetry; from his experiments in a wide range of forms of poetry, drama, and prose; and from his spiritual growth and his gradual acquisition of personal wisdom, which he incorporated into the framework of his own mythology.

Chat:

This is the point in our memorization process where we move the conversation to a Thread in the Chat function on the SubStack app/website. The text of the poem and other content will be posted there for paid subscribers to read and come back to. Check in today and throughout the month to hear how others in this community are memorizing the poem, the impact it is having in their life, and to discuss the themes in the poem.

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Make this experience your own, choosing how you approach the poem’s content, your memorization process, and connect with us in the chat!

I look forward to our conversation!

Brian

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