Maud Gonne, the Irish nationalist, feminist, actress and fighter for Ireland’s independence had a very special relationship with the renowned Irish poet William Butler Yeats, Nobel Prize winner and a central figure of the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats fell deeply in love with Gonne and asked her serveral times to marry him – which she refused again and again. Some critics believe that this unfulfilled love accounts for some of the deepest poetry and letters in Irish literature. In this talk we will examine not only their complex relationship as depicted in Yeats‘ texts, but also Gonne’s political role and her influence on his literary legacy.