A Critical Analysis of Poem "No Second Troy" by William Butler Yeats

 

"No Second Troy" by William Butler Yeats, a great Irish poet, is poem about the love relationship between the poet and Maud Gonne, devastatingly beautiful Irish woman. It is one of the great literary love stories of the 20th century. The poem hints that how an alluring dazzling beauty can cause a devastating massive distraction with the reference to Helen of Troy, from the Iliad and the Aeneid. Now we will critically look into the poem.

Before discussing the poem, let us have a look at the background of the poem. Yeats, in fact, published the poem in 1916 in the collection “Responsibilities and Other Poems”, after he had already proposed to Gonne; and been rejected on numerous occasions. Yeats was obsessed with her and pursued her for over a decade and dedicated many of his poems to her. In this poem, however, Yeats's attitude is somewhat harsh, as he compares Gonne with the infamously beautiful and notoriously mischievous “Helen of Troy”.

Like Maud Gonne, Helen, a legendary character from Homer's Iliad, was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her age. She was also partly responsible for starting the Trojan War, which eventually led to the burning of the great city of Troy.

With the comparison to Helen, Yeats is accusing Maud Gonne of being partially responsible for the violence in revolutionary Ireland, just like Helen was partially responsible for the Trojan War. According to "No Second Troy," she "taught to ignorant men most violent ways."

Gonne is a courageous and devastatingly beautiful woman. She is also a cruel lover and a shamelessly irresponsible activist. She uses her beauty and her high ideals to convince people less noble and intelligent to do what he considers some very unwise things, like oppose the might of the British colonial powers.

Now we will critically look into the poem "No Second Troy" in our following discussion. The poem plays out (develops) through four rhetorical questions.

First, the speaker wonders "why" he should blame "her" for his unhappiness and for her reckless manipulation of the emotions of Irish commoners to rouse political violence. As the poet says:

“WHY should I blame her that she filled my days

With misery… …?”

The speaker blames Maud Gonne for filling his life with unhappiness. We can only assume that the reason for his "misery" is that she rejected him again and again.

Yeats is talking about the role Maud Gonne played in encouraging violent, revolutionary activities in Ireland during the independence movement especially Easter Rising of 1916, the  same year of publishing the poem.

“…she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways”

The speaker accuses Maud Gonne of class warfare, trying to make poor, simple people, who live in the "little streets", the native people, rebel against the more powerful people who live on the "great" streets, the British.

Had they but courage equal to desire?”

“Or hurled the little streets upon the great,

It indicates that the common folk have the "desire" to overthrow British rule, but they don't have the "courage" to carry out the deed. They are too impoverished and uneducated.

Secondly, he asks whether it would even have been possible for "her" to be a "peaceful" person. He thinks her character and beauty have an old-school quality, more like a figure from Greek tragedy than a contemporary woman. She belongs to another age.

“With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern?”
 

Thirdly, the speaker is simultaneously thinking about some other reality in which Maud Gonne was not such a firebrand or heartbreaker, even as he recognizes that it could never have been any other way.

“Why, what could she have done being what she is?”

Lastly the speaker asks her:

“Was there another Troy for her to burn?”

Because there was no "second Troy" for her to destroy, she had to destroy other things – like the speaker's happiness, and the lives of Irish commoners. The first Troy, of course, was destroyed because of a quarrel over Helen, another politically troublesome beauty from another "age", ancient Greece.

Last of all we can say that, the poem “No Second Troy” is a strong call towards peace leaving the violent way of war or destruction. The poem appeals that no beauty like Helen of Troy or to-day’s Maud Gonne will cause the destruction of another beauty like “Troy”. There will remain only peace and love in the world. 

This paper is prepared for you by Talim Enam, BA (Hons), MA in English.

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