She had led him to the impression that her strong nationalism overrode any sexual desires. He wrote a poem "He thinks of his past greatness when a part of the constellations of heaven" saying:.
I became a rush that horses tread: .
I became a man, a hater of the wind, .
Knowing one, out of all things, alone, that his head .
Would not lie on the breast or his lips on the hair .
Of the woman that he loves, until he dies. .
Maud's fierce Irish nationalism teamed with her beauty had a strong influence on Yeats" political opinion. Yeats once said:.
"If she had said the world was flat or the moon an old caubeen I would be proud to be of her party". .
Under Maud's influence he joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood, jointly founded the Association Irlandaise and in 1899 wrote a nationalistic play starring Gonne called "Cathleen ni Houlihan". .
After the theatre preview of this play, there was a huge surge of Irish nationalism. In his poem "The Man and the Echo", Yeats worryingly mused:.
Did that play of mine send out.
Certain men the English shot?.
Did words of mine put too great strain.
On that woman's reeling brain?.
Later in his poems, Yeats began referring to Maud as Helen of Troy. In his poem, "No Second Troy" he bitterly described her political influence as destructive: .
Why should I blame her that she filled my days.
With misery, or that she would of late.
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,.
Or hurled the little streets upon the great,.
Had they but courage equal to desire?.
Despite the fact that Maud's continual refusal of Yeats served to lower his self-esteem in future relationships, Yeats was creatively dependent on having Maud at hand.
Yeats" poem Reconcilation was written when Maud was isolated with lung congestion. He wrote:.
With lightning you went from me, and I could find.
Nothing to make a song about.
But, dear, cling close to me; since you were gone,.
My barren thoughts have chilled me to the bone.