Yeats: The Lake

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 gray,    

      I hear it in the deep heart's core.

William Butler Yeats, 

Uit de roman: Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety:

  “Oh, pooh, Sid! That’s a splendid poem, but it’s not a plan for a life. It’s defeatist, it’s total retreat. Poetry ought to be a by-product of living, and you can’t have a by-product unless you’ve had a product first. It’s immoral not to get in and work and get your hands dirty.” “You can get your hands dirty in nine beanrows.”