William Butler Yeats’ “No Second Troy”

Like many modern poets of the late 19^th/early 20^th century, William Butler Yeats suffered from the experiences of (as the forward puts it) “unrequited love” (1115).  It is beneficial in knowing that unlike them, Yeats was rather persistent in his chase for the “beloved” and “statuesque beauty” Maud Gonne.  His extra effort is what pushed his misery further than that of any other common modernistic poet.  And it was only for her political “fanaticism” that prevented Yeats’ success in winning her heart as she marries a revolutionist instead (1115).  Time and time again, he would, as if by fate, be kindly rejected for his inquire of marriage (1116).  It was not until he met Georgiana Hyde-Lees that he is finally freed from his chase for the untouchable love he so fervently desired.  The experiences of tragic love and his maturity through it set the tone of the modernistic “No Second Troy.”

Using Helen of Troy for comparison, Yeats describes the dangers and miseries tied to beauty with respect to Gonne. In verses 2-5, even if men (I believe he is actually referring to himself but giving man as an example) “had courage equal to [their] desire… she would of late” still teach them in most “violent ways or hurled the little streets upon the great.”  If we consider these lines figuratively, we can interpret her “violent ways” and “hurling of little streets” as the dangerous thorns of love.  Not in the physical sense, but perhaps in the mental sense, for she is like Helen of Troy, in that the men among her will fight and be tormented by her beauty that is “like a tightened bow,” full of danger.  A danger that is so hard for them to overcome, as Yeats painful past illustrates.  Regardless of their efforts, they will still suffer the pains of unrequited love.  Yeats analogy of Gonne to Helen of Troy successfully portrays the warring nature of his mind and its final resolution. (1118)

It is evident that he does not blame her for his pains as he questions rhetorically “Why should [he] blame her?” for she is the source of his “days…filled…with misery” (1118).  The answer is finally given in the verses “Why, what could she have done being what she is?”  It was not her choice to be born of “fire” and “beauty” and that their sufferings are the result of their own discontent (I came to realize this from help of http://www.poetryfeast.com/no-second-troy/%20Criticism%20and%20Analysis). (1118)

Finally, Yeats asks the remaining question “Was there another Troy for her to burn?”  The answer lies in the title itself:  “No Second Troy.”  I interpreted (with help from http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/No_Second_Troy_by_William_Butler_Yeats_analysis.php) the answer to be Yeats surrender and forgiveness to the “misery” that was caused by his unreachable love.  He no longer wants to rage a war to make her the cause of burning a “Second Troy,” knowing that he can never achieve her “spiritual and emotional consummation” (1115).

Considering his past experiences with love, we can see that “No Second Troy” is Yeats’ resolution to the tiring chase of the beautifully dangerous Maud Gonne.  It has come to my attention as to why so many great poets at the time experienced so many hardships of imperfect love.  But then, the very existence of these tragic experiences is what has induce the limits of their minds thoughts and emotions, necessary in creating the great works that they did.  As the forward suggests, “Blake taught that ‘without Contraries is no progression,’ and Yeats, that ‘all the gains of man come from conflict with the opposite of his true being’” (1116).  It's only through hardships do we ever grow and strengthen the most, for if we can past these tests of peril, there exists no tougher hardships we cannot overcome.  “No Second Troy” holds true to the opposing views of a perfect Romanticist’s love story.