Fusion of history and myth as well as personal and political in Yeats' poetry

Ques. Discuss the fusion of history and myth as well as personal and political in Yeats' poetry concerning any poems?

Ans. William Butler Yeats is the one of the finest and greatest 20th-century poet recognized for his remarkable work. Almost all of his poetry is known throughout the world for the symbolism, imagery, mythological perspective, and political background blending history with it. 

Yeats belonged to the Anglo-Irish minority, the community which is responsible for controlling the political, cultural, social, and economic life in Ireland. He was inspired by romantic poets namely - John Keats, William Blake, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. He follows these posts in his public role. 

Most of Yeats' poetry is said to use symbols from ordinary life and sought of familiar traditions which are used by the public in general. If we take on the example of poems such as 'No Second Troy' and 'The Second Coming' then it is evident the way these perspectives are blended. 

'No Second Troy' is addressed to the tall, beautiful, socially prominent typing woman, Maud Gonne. He met her in London but seen in 1903 she got married to John Macbride therefore, rejecting the love of Yeats. In the poem, Yeats uses Hellenism to give a contrast between the modern world of Ireland and the classical world of Greek antiquity, personal and political passions along with these Celtic legends and mythological figures are also used in the poem. 

The criticism of Maud Gonne by Yeats is partly based on her rejection of him as well as on the political role she gained. The poem begins with a rhetorical question: "Why skills I blame her that she filled my days with misery?" He asks how she will be blamed for the agony and pain from which he suffers. Suddenly, he encloses the political perspective of the poem by saying "she taught ignorant man most violent ways". Her beauty has been compared to that of Helen of Troy. Just like Helen led to the fall of the Trojan civilization, Maud Gonne through her beauty led Irish beauty astray and she taught them to practice extremist forms to win freedom. Both these women's destruction took place also it leads to the destruction of many men.

Just like 'No Second Troy' the poem 'The Second Coming' uses political, mythical, and symbolism. 'The Second Coming' uses the Christian myth based on the bloodshed and widespread murder in Ireland. The poem uses the philosophical system which is created by Yeats and is available in his 'A Vision'. 

The poem talks about the cyclical creation and destruction of Christian doctrine. In history, there were two phases - the dominant phase and the emergent face. Yeats has already explained in 'A Vision' that after the age of peace goodness, science, truth, and necessity comes an age of evil, fiction, bloodshed, and war. When Christ was born he brings in goodness and love into the world. Thus, Yeats Christ is an antithesis and antithetical self of the Roman and classical world of Alexander. 

But the Greek age where Helen was born was the age of destruction. The poem says, "mere Anarchy is let loose", anarchy here refers to the political disorder and collapse of an old tradition. Yeats was writing the poem at the time of the first world war when an instrument of destruction such as the atomic bomb was formed. According to Yeats, after 2000 years that is the Great dear there will be no second coming of Christ. Therefore, the title is ironic. 

William Butler Yeats in all his poems from first to last tries to transform the local concern of his poems by blending the mythical, historical, political, and personal perspectives brought together.