Politics
by W. B. Yeats
 

“In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms.” — Thomas Mann
 
How can I, that girl standing there,  
My attention fix  
On Roman or on Russian  
Or on Spanish politics?  
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows 5
What he talks about,  
And there’s a politician  
That has read and thought,  
And maybe what they say is true  
Of war and war’s alarms, 10
But O that I were young again  
And held her in my arms!  
 
Roman — Italy, ruled by Benito Mussolini, had allied with Nazi Germany in 1936, after a disastrously costly war with Ethiopia.
 
Russian — At the time Yeats was writing this poem, no one knew with whom the Soviet Union would ally itself in a possible coming war between France and the United Kingdom on one side and Nazi Germany on the other. Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, was attempting to get a guarantee of a military alliance with the Allies in which a German attack on any of the countries would mean all three would go to war. However, the British government was not confident the Soviet Union would be able to resist the Nazis for long. Later in 1939, the Soviets and Nazis signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which promised non-aggression between the two countries (and secretly included agreements for the partition of Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe). Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 anyway, and ultimately it the Soviets were most responsible for defeating Germany.
 
Spanish — Spain had suffered through a bloody civil war from 1936 to 1939 between forces favoring a republic and those of the fascists, led by Francisco Franco. The fascists were backed by Hitler and Nazi Germany. On the side of the republic were many idealistic artists and writers from other countries, including the United States. The war became a dry-run of sorts for military tactics used by the Nazis, and saw the occurence of many atrocities. For example, the fascists would shell cities to drive people out of buildings into the street, and then shell them again with shells designed to create a maximum of shrapnel and thus civilian causalties. They also shot wounded men in their hospital beds, and often summarily executed anyone they thought might be a republican sympathizer. The United Kingdon officially recognized Franco as the ruler of Spain about a month after Yeats died. Franco stayed in power until his death in 1975.