Question

What is the significance of the title no second troy?

Answer 1

Answer:

1. .But, no, the real title, "No Second Troy," alludes to ancient Greek history. ... The title is something of a joke: the speaker is saying that if there had only been another Troy to burn, Maud Gonne wouldn't have needed to cause so much trouble in Ireland

Answer 2

Answer:

Up until the poem's final sentence, neither Troy nor the ancient Greeks are directly referenced.

By the end, the reader should understand that Yeats is drawing parallels between the female character in the poem and the infamous Helen of Troy. The speaker is joking when he says that Maud Gonne wouldn't have needed to stir up so much trouble in Ireland if there had just been another Troy to burn. There aren't any ancient cities lying around that might need a good burning, which is unfortunate for the speaker and his country.

So in simple terms,

Maud Gonne is constantly compared to the mythical character Helen of Troy, whose beauty led to the 9 years long the Trojan War. 'No Second Troy' makes Maud Gonne a symbol of nobility of a passed heroic age, and so sets up an image to which the present might aspire.