Today I feel like I actually understood Yeats a bit more from the Yeats Exhibit at the National Art Gallery. Yeats was an interesting and unique man who is considered to be a literary genius. He
wrote a variety of poems on different topics during his lifetime – politics,
folklore and love. Yeats was what I like to refer to as a revolutionary writer
as he wrote about topics that greatly influenced his life.
One such influence was his great love, Maud Gonne. Gonne
continually refused his romantic advances, which caused him to write some dark
literature. One of his poems actually was almost like a murder fantasy. He was
essentially saying: “If I cannot have you, then nobody can!” His more lighthearted
poetry, on the other hand, featured poems in a fantasy realm (folklore). When
writing this poetry, Yeats often showcased swans as some folklore said swans
mated for life. This is how Yeats essentially felt about Gonne since she was
the love of his life.
Unfortunately for Yeats, his love for Gonne did not come to
fruition. He eventually married a woman named Georgina. Their marriage was one
that was more of convenience rather than for love (as it would have been with Gonne).
The National Art Gallery
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