It is true that learning more about Yeats' life gives greater understanding to his poetry. The description in this poem of a woman that teaches men violent ways and is the source of constant misery to the poet fits perfectly with Maud Gonne, who rejected all four offers of marriage that Yeats made to her. She was also an ardent Irish nationalist, and Yeats declined to be as active as she was. "No Second Troy" is evidence of his critical views.
The Poem
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 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?
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