The speaker is an individual currently standing on gray city pavements who desperately longs for the peace of nature. They envision a self-sufficient life on an uninhabited island, planning to build a small cabin from clay and wattles while surviving on beans and honey. Their yearning is driven by the constant, internalized sound of lake water lapping against a shore.

William Butler Yeats is a young Irish writer living in London whose work is heavily influenced by the Celtic Revival movement and his boyhood memories of County Sligo. He struggles with the urbanization of his current environment and uses poetry to explore his cultural identity and personal longing. His encounter with a water fountain in a shop window triggers the profound nostalgia that inspires him to write about the island of Innisfree.

Maud Gonne is a passionate Irish revolutionary who captures William's heart but remains largely unavailable to him, repeatedly rejecting his marriage proposals over the course of decades. She temporarily marries a military leader, causing distress for her persistent suitor, though she remains a central figure in his life and work.

John Yeats is a portrait painter who moves his family between London, Dublin, and County Sligo. He maintains an art studio in Dublin where he introduces his son to various artists and writers. He reads the works of American transcendentalists to his young son, planting the seed for the idealized vision of isolated living.

Susan Mary is the daughter of a prominent merchant from Sligo, Ireland. Her family background ties the Yeats family to the region, providing the rural environment that deeply influences her son's formative years and poetic imagination.

Henry David Thoreau is an American transcendentalist author famous for his autobiographical account of his isolated stay at Walden Pond. His written descriptions of planting bean rows and living in a handmade hut serve as the direct literary and philosophical blueprint for the envisioned life on Innisfree.

Isabella Augusta is an aristocratic woman who becomes a central figure in the Irish Literary Revival. She encourages her peers to embrace cultural nationalism and uses her home at Coole Park as a creative gathering place. She works tirelessly to establish a national theater for Ireland.

Georgie Hyde-Lees is a woman deeply interested in the occult who marries William after his final rejections by Maud Gonne. She engages in sessions of automatic writing to communicate with the spirit world, an activity that heavily influences her husband's esoteric writings.

John MacBride is an Irish military leader whose marriage to Maud Gonne causes great personal dismay for William. After the birth of a son and the subsequent failure of the marriage, he returns to Dublin and becomes involved in planning the Easter Rising.

Olivia Shakespear is a married woman who shares a brief romantic relationship with William following his first rejection by Maud Gonne. Although their romantic liaison ends after a few years, they maintain a steadfast friendship.

Ezra Pound is an American poet who serves as a personal secretary for several years. He introduces new literary influences, encouraging an older generation of writers to adopt a more experimental and modern approach to their craft.

Edward Martyn is a writer and cultural nationalist who participates in the Irish Literary Revival. Alongside his peers, he helps organize the foundations of what eventually becomes the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

John Millington Synge is a prominent Irish playwright involved in the Celtic Revival movement. His dramatic works assess the state of Ireland and are championed by the founders of the National Theatre Society.

Sean O'Casey is a playwright who participates in the Irish Literary Revival, assessing the past, current, and future state of Ireland through his dramatic works.