Representation of Women Nationalists in the Poetry of W. B. Yeats

Abstract

My paper deals with the representation of women nationalists like Maud Gonne and Countess Markiewicz in the poetry of Yeats. Maud Gonne, an Irish nationalist who took part in the Irish struggles for freedom from the British rule, was the woman Yeats loved and many times proposed to, which resulted in failure. She is an important figure in the poetry of Yeats; I refer to those poems, which deal with her involvement in the politics of Ireland. Another woman nationalist is Countess Markiewicz, the first woman to be elected the member of the Irish Parliament. She was one of the leading figures in the Irish struggles against the British rule. Yeats wrote poems which show her active participation in politics.