MAN, NATURE, AND IMAGINATION: A COMPARATIVE READING OF “THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE” AND “STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING”

Abstract

W. B. Yeats’s “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” and R. Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” envisage nature in relation to man. Though both the poems show their Romantic legacy, they confront the theme of man’s connection with nature in a more nuanced manner. A comparative reading of the two poems shows not only where they adhere to and depart from the Romantic poets, but also how they relate to each other in this regard. Such a reading also illustrates where these two poets accord and where they differ in their presentation of this theme of man’s relationship with nature, both in their use of figures of speech like metaphors and symbols and in their recourse to imagination.