A CRITICAL APPRECIATION YEATS’ “NO SECOND TROY” Minerva Salguero Gómez September 11th, 2019 No Second Troy is a poem by William B. Yeats between 1908 and 1910. Accordingly, to our sources, it was inspired by the unresponsive love of Maud Gonne, an activist for Ireland's independence. The first line starts with the question “Why,” the author’s voice “I” and the person who receives the action “her,” in which case “her” refers to Maud Gonne. Now, the first question expresses ambiguity and contradiction. The poet does not understand why he loves this girl. On the one hand, the author describes misery, and on the other hand, he exempts Maud Gonne as responsible for his sadness; after all, it is not her fault, but at the same time, she is the reason for his suffering. The next line refers to Maud´s activism in which the author criticizes violence and the acts of “ignorant men” because this poem was written during difficult times, full of agitated social movements in Ireland, where females were not normal to participate in politics and public opinions. In that sense, the poem compares the courage and the desire of the “ignorant men,” and he wonders if those feelings are equal to her beloved’s. Yeats will question Maud’s image and her role in society in the following lines. He expresses great confusion and contradiction as if there were no model to follow or to compare to. He wonders, “What could have made her peaceful with a mind” if it is not what a woman usually wants? She is portrayed as a different kind of woman; her fire, nobleness, and beauty are “not natural in an age like this,” her character is high, solitary, and stern, which are not normally associated with a woman’s personality. The two final lines are two questions about destiny, and in a certain way, he explains why he could not blame her. The poet wonders if there was another way this could have ended. After all, she is a woman who owns her life, and her actions were her choice. The last line compares Maud to Helen of Troy, who was responsible for the fall and end of the Trojan civilization. Maud was a symbol, and many men followed her. However, while Helen is a passive character -she was captured and “stolen”and her beauty inspires armies, Maud is a dynamic character, and her courage and desire for freedom move thousands of men. The poem's structure presents many questions; in a certain way, they are rhetorical since they contain their own answers. The poet is in pain, but at the same time, he recognizes that there was no other way this could have been. He loves her uniqueness and understands that he would not change her in any way.