Poems of W.B. Yeats: The Rose

No Second Troy by William Butler Yeats

"Why, what could she have done, being what she is?

Was there another Troy for her to burn?"

'She' refers to Maud Gonne, an Irish nationalist. Why does the writer ask such a question in the second line?

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Last updated by Aslan
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The speaker is making a comment about how this woman treats the Irish commoners. He accused her of wanting to destroy people. Because there is no "second Troy for her to destroy (note the allusion to ancient Greek myth) she chooses Irish commoners to destroy.

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