William Butler Yeats is one of Ireland's best known and loved poets. The twenty-two poems of The Rose, published in 1893, make up Yeats's second collection. He would go on to publish nine more. In The Rose, Yeats is preoccupied with Irish mythology and unrequited love, and these themes meld in interesting ways throughout the collection. The titular rose is Ireland at some times and the object of Yeats's affection—Maud Gonne—at others. In fact, one of the names for Ireland in the Irish language is "Roisin Dubh," which means "dark rose."
Key Aspects of Poems of W.B. Yeats: The Rose
Tone
The tone of the poems varies but is usually melancholic and reverent. Yeats generally writes in a...
