In 1889 Yeats met his great love, Maud Gonne (1866-1953), an Irish actress and revolutionary who became a major landmark in the poets life and imagination.
From that moment, as he wrote, "the troubling of my life began." He fell in love with her, but his love was hopeless. Maud Gonne liked and admired him, but she was not in love with him. Her passion was lavished upon Ireland; she was an Irish patriot, a rebel, and a rhetorician, commanding in voice and in person. In fact, she was a founder (1906) of Sinn Fein. When Yeats joined in the Irish nationalist cause, he did so partly from conviction, but mostly for love of Maud.
Maud Gonne's marriage to Major John MacBride in 1903 inspired Yeats's poem 'No Second Troy'.
"Why should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught ignorant men most violent ways,
Or hurled the little streets upon the great,
Had they but courage equal to desire
What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as a fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern
Why, what could she have done, being what she is
Was there another Troy for her to burn "
I've heard this romance once and once again which sounded like a broken fairy tale simply because of the sorrowful ending that draws down the curtain.Although Yeats devoted most of his affaction and romantic poems to Maud, the sole goddess that evoke his unparralled and spontaneous admiration yet rejected mercilessly in the end, I wonder this poet never turned his love into hatred or deteriorate this immortal love by curse or indifference, he did surrender his heart to Maud Gonne and forever. When he wrote down so many great poems to celebrate his sublime faith in her or mourn over the Gonne's betrayal of "deep-sworn vow" or declare his epic ambition to be a recluse with her, he was in love with not merely this charming lady but with the romantic ideal and goal he endlessly pursued. In this sense, I believe Maud Gonne has become a symbol which embodies Yeats' dream of Neverland or the utopia..Is it love or is this love has been heightened to the idealism? I don't know, just by my intuition. Yeats is a great idealist,isn't he? Everygirl would envy Gonne but rebuke Gonne to make such a disppointing decision. But Gonne is not to blame, after all, without the stir of love, it's hard to pretend to love him or even appreciate the essence hidden in these mighty lines.Whatever, love should be based on the mutual ground rather than one side's blatant devotion. Perhaps this romance tore Yeats' heart apart but it triggered his ambition and zeal for the greater enterprise in turn which finally push him to make a more influential dent in literature. That's more inspiring and intriguing.
Tags: Yeats and Maud Gonne