Yeats

 "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by William Butler Yeats feels like an appreciation for the solitary life style. In a sense, the cabin that he describes could be a literal place he goes to for hibernation, or it could be a figurative place in his mind. He wants to "live alone in the bee-loud glade", to which the "bee-loud glade" might represent his own thoughts. Yeats seems take the sounds and images of this place where ever he goes, saying, "I hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; / While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey". I'm wondering if this version of solitude that Yeats presents contrasts to Mathew Arnold's depiction of being alone in "The Forsaken Merman". Where as Arnold's character ends up engulfed in the sea, Yeats makes it seem peaceful and comforting, like something good can come out of it.