W.B. Yeats poem “No Second Troy” is a poem of rejection and heartbreak He compares Maud to Helen of Troy. I am not sure if this is meant to be a compliment or not. On the one hand she was a very attractive woman, but she also smashed the entire country. Maud enchanted him in the way the Helen of Troy enchanted the people of Troy, yet in the end no amount of beauty can make up for destruction. In his poem he writes, “Why should I blame her that she filled my days with misery” It’s as if he came to the realization that he was only miserable because he allowed her to make him feel that way. This opening line reminded me of a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” I can relate this poem to this quote because they are both talking about allowing other people to control how you feel. Keats is basically kicking himself for allowing Maud to make him feel miserable, he realizes that she could only make him feel that way because he allowed her to.
Going to back to Helen of Troy, she was a political figurehead, a ruler. She was to be loved by all, yet she causes chaos and destroyed a country. Keats uses the comparison of Helen of Troy to show the great destructive power women have. At the end of the poem he writes, “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?” Again the comparison is evident, but when he asks if there was another Troy for her to burn I am not really sure what he means. It could be a variety of things; he could be wondering if his was the only heart scorned by her love? He could also be wondering, if there are more countries that will be destroyed by women with too much beauty and power? I do not know exactly, but I do like even if it depicts women as the cause of wars and destruction, because it can also be seen that men are easily manipulated by love.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Your interpretation of this poem was similar to mine in that we both saw the speaker had trouble not blaming "Helen" for all the war and destruction her beauty caused. However, I really liked how you related the opening line to the quote by Eleanor Roosevelt because it showed how the poem can relate to ideas today and how Yeats' writings are able to transcend really long periods of time.
Lindsay,
Good exploration of this poem by Yeats (not Keats, as you repeatedly call him). Good focus on particular passages, and interesting insights and associations. I think you ask good questions about the text.
A lady that was loved by all creates such chaos. I liked how you saw the war broke out from the love and beauty of a woman. I found it interesting that to be with someone you loved you must go through "war" and fight in certain cases.
Post a Comment