BOOKS AND ARTS MAY 11, 1953
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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 noblesness 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?
(From The Green Helmet and Other Poems, 1910)
Maude Gonne, Ireland's Joan of Arc, chose the man of action, not the poet. She married John MacBride, he gave her his name, and she turned away William Butler Yeats—he named her Helen and gave her the quality of myth. The woman died last week; the name MacBride has long been dead; the myth of Maude will live as long as men read Irish poetry.
2 comments
Great poem! They don't write them like this anymore.
- paskunac
October 8, 2011 at 7:21am
Sentimental, self indulgent crap. Who is this Mr Yeats? I've read that he supports the terrorists and has written extensively about a "terrible beauty". Anyone who finds terrorism beautiful should be waterboarded. Waterboard Yeats. That will give him something to write about, keep him from writing propaganda for the terrorists.
- IggyPop
October 10, 2011 at 4:07pm