Privacy Policy  |  For more than a quarter of a century, Yeats pursued Gonne to no avail. That year, she gave birth to Seán, her son by MacBride. var src = (useSSL ? Dearest…It was hard leaving you yesterday…Life is so good when we are together. Gonne left London after just nine days but it was enough time for Yeats to have fallen madly in love with her. I did not find in any cage the woman by my side; O but her heart would break to know my thoughts are far away. } else { The two first met in London in 1889 when Gonne was in London after the death of her father. var useSSL = 'https:' == document.location.protocol; 'https:' : 'http:') + googletag.defineSlot('/111100742/home_leaderboard', [728, 90], 'leaderboard').addService(googletag.pubads()); Maud Gonne and William Butler Yeats met one last time in August of 1938 when she visited him in Rathfarnham for tea. '//www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js'; Maud Gonne was the Irish revolutionary whom Yeats loved but who rejected his proposals of marriage. In April of 1916, the Easter Rising took place in Dublin, and brought an abrupt end to Maud Gonne’s marriage when John MacBride, as one of its leaders, was executed in the aftermath. Famed as the muse of W. B. Yeats, Maud Gonne shared with him a fascination of the occult. They had a son together but separated shortly after the birth. if (rand == 1 || rand == 2){ She stayed with her father until his death. Yeats’ feelings toward Maud at times clearly bordered on the obsessive, as he was to write in Cycles Ago, subtitled “In Memory of Your Dream One July Night”. })(); Maud Gonne and William Butler Yeats met one last time in August of 1938 when she visited him in Rathfarnham for tea. She saw their union as one of their intellects, spirits and souls. The next decade brought change. She had a daughter from a relationship she had with a French journalist and spent her time between Paris, Dublin and London. I always thought that "Never Give All the Heart" was the best poetic description of Yeats' relationship with Gonne. Many of Yeats's poems are inspired by her, or mention her, such as "This, This Rude Knocking." After her husband was executed in Dublin in 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising, Gonne felt it was safe for her to return to Ireland and Yeats proposed to her for the final time. In 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne, a 23-year-old English heiress and ardent Irish nationalist. document.write('<\/script>'); It is hard being away from each other so much there are moments when I…long to be with you…beloved, I am glad and proud beyond measure of your love…I have prayed so hard to have all earthly desire taken from my love for you and dearest…loving you as I do, I have prayed…that the bodily desire is gone. Maud’s secret life came to light in November of 1898, when the couple found themselves in Dublin together. She was eighteen months younger than Yeats and later claimed she met the poet as a "paint-stained art student." document.write('