William Butler Yeats 1865-1939

William Yeats is responsible for the acknowledgement for all modern Irish writings. He wrote poems of romance. "Yeats is, among his other distinctions, a great poet of unrequited love." pg.1115 His poetry consisted of his love and loneliness for a woman that he desired.

No Second Troy

Why should I blame her that she filled my days

With misery, or that she would of late

Have taught to 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 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?

Here's a man with a hurting heart, who yearns for the love of a women who he considers as beautiful as a bow, she was perfect in his sight except for that fact that she doesn't return the affection that he has for her. He assumes that there must be someone else that she adores since he can't seem to spend time with her.We have learned through experience that when one doesn't respond to your advances, that their must be someone else that they desire, and refuse to accept this fact and for some reason we can't move on because we have fallen for someone that doesn't feel the same as we do.