Comment 25 of 26, added on December 25th, 2005 at 5:19 PM.

i think wb yeats is a great writer who is heavily in fluenced by the first world war and the great turmoil of the environment around him. according to his complicated design and vision about future he could put all his experiences in akind of belief system. and i think it's amazing. it's a pleasure to read his poetry in my literature classes..

hilal from Turkey

Comment 23 of 26, added on November 29th, 2005 at 9:51 PM.

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

I believe Yeats is confused about religion and essentially believes all religions are based on the same ideas. he blends them in this poem, which reflects his view that saviours are needed for the human race who cannot live without something to worship. Individuals are insignificant.

harah

Comment 21 of 26, added on October 31st, 2005 at 12:39 PM.

The Second Coming
-William Butler Yeats

‘The Second Coming’ was written by William Butler Yeats in 1919, a prominent Irish poet of the twentieth century. For a better understanding of the poem, it is important to be familiar with Yeats’ background and philosophy.

Yeats was born and brought up in Ireland, and was a Christian by birth. He was a poet, dramatist, mystic and public figure (taken from, wikipedia.org). He was an influential force behind the Irish literary revival that started off in the beginning of the 1890s. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 for what the Nobel Committee described as "his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation".
In 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne, an Irish revolutionary who devoted herself to the nationalist movement in Ireland. Yeats developed an obssessiveness towards her, and proposed to her in 1891, two years after their first meeting, but was rejected. He proposed to her three more times, in 1899, 1900 and 1901 and was rejected all three times. Gonne had a significant effect on Yeats’ works and his life ever after (adapted from wikipedia.org).

Yeats was greatly attracted by eastern mysticism and spiritualism. He came up with his own mythological explanation for life, drawing influences from Eastern philosophy. He was drawn towards paganism, or nature worship, which also happned to be a popular form of worship in Ireland in his time. Despite being born a Christian, his attraction towards paganism was so strong that he eventually converted to paganism. The effect of the change of religion, or faith, can be seen in his poems (which includes ‘The Second Coming’) that he wrote after the conversion. Among his other prominent works are ‘Phases of the Moon’, ‘Easter 1916’, ‘Michael Robartes and the dancer’ and many others (taken from yeatsvision.com).

‘The Second Coming’ was written in January 1919 and published in 1920. It is important to note that this is only a few years after the First World War. The economic, political and social condition of most countries involved or affected in the war was pathetic, and as a result many nations moved towards communism and socialism. There was also a rapid rise of rascism and fascism.
Yeats felt very strongly about his, as well as the unrest in Ireland against the English domination. There was a strong nationalist movement that was active at the time, and the struggle led to many deaths.

Yeats was also very influenced by writers like Shelley and Edmund Spenser, and their influences are visible in many of his works. He wrote numerous plays and poems that became popular and were recognized as masterpieces (taken from wikipedia.org).

Yeats preferred his poems and other works to be open to interpretations, which made his poetry more meaningful and at the same time, catered to a large audience. He didn’t want one fixed explanation for his works, as he felt that would kill creativity, and also would restrict his works to a selected group of readers.

‘The Second Coming’ begins with ‘turning and turning in the widening gyre, the falcon cannot hear the falconer’. Yeats had formulated his own explanation for life, a kind of Yeatses philosophy, wherein he said that time is divided into 2000 year periods, that were further divided into 28 phases of the moon. The gyres are the spiral cones that govern these periods in time. The use of the word turning can lead us to believe that he refers to mankind being engulfed into a deep gyre like space. The falcon refers to the people and the falconer refers to god. Yeats probably wants to say that humanty does not listen to the almighty anymore, that it has lost all sense of right and wrong. This is justified by the bext few lines, ‘things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.’ Yeats could be referring to the aftermath of the First World War, that left thousands homeless and nations in total chaos (adapted from cs.rice.edu, emperzine.com and eliteskills.com).
‘The blood-dimmed tide’ might refer to the Noah’s ark – a biblical reference. Anoher interpretation is that it refers to the tide of blood, caused by war. ‘The ceremony of innocence’ might imply that innocence is not common anymore.
The next two lines bring out a very significant point. He says that the worst people in the world have the will to do what they want to do, and those who should be doing something to improve the condition of the world, lack intensity and passion. If the same passionate intensity that is possessed by the wrongdoers (‘the worst’) is used by ‘the best’ to help a cause, the world would be a much better place to live in (adapted from verafay.com)
The first 8 lines of the poem create a very worrying image. Yeats tries to tell us that something surely has to be done, as the worst is here.
This is evident from the first two lines of the next stanza, ‘surely some revelation is at hand.’ He feels that nothing worse can happen, and so a revival can be expected. This refers to the chapter of revelation in the Bible as it talks about the Second Coming of Christ. Here, Yeats makes a purposeful use of Christian imagery, as he might want to suggest the demise of the Christian era. The image of the gyres in the first line of the poem further solidifies this belief.
He then says, ‘surely the second coming is at hand.’ He might be referring to the Second Coming of Christ, saying that because so much wrong is happening around the world, that the time is ripe for Christ to come back and set things right, as is said in the Bible.
One might argue that this is unlikely considering he was influenced by paganism when he wrote the poem. In that case, another explanation could be that he awaits the second coming of the Anti-Christ, saying that the current events would seem like the right opportunity for he Anti-Christ to come and add to it. This topic remains, to this date, a topic of speculation and controversy.
Yeats mentions that he has a vision, which happens to be an image from the Spiritus Mundi, the collective knowledge that every human being subconsciously possesses. It is worth mentioning that the sphinx is a powerful pagan symbol of fire and earth, which brings another very interesting point of view into discussion. Could this poem be about Paganism rising above Christianity and other religions? It is highly likely so. The mention of the sphinx denotes pagan power, and Yeats says that the sphinx is to rise from its sleep after twenty centuries. It could be an attack on Christianity, as many people believed that the Church carried out many atrocities over the centuries. Yeats might be saying that the treacherous acts carried out by priests, like death, rape and extortion would be brought to an end by the shift of power from Christianity to Paganism. He says that as the sphinx moves its thighs, all around it sees shadows of the ‘indignant desert birds’ that refers to the scavengers hovering over the dead, or rather the affected in this case. (Written with help from yeatsvision.com)
He says, ‘I know that twenty centuries of stony sleep…’ This is probably his prophecy based on his vision.

In the last few lines of the poem, he says that the time for a ‘rough beast’ to come is here, but at the same time he questions its nature. It might indicate the coming of Anti-Christ, as the imagery of anarchy and death is very prominent throughout the poem.
The mention of Jerusalem is symbolic, as it happens to be the birthplace of Christ. Yeats could also indirectly be saying that there is a need for a saviour, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be a god-like form, but could very well be someone earthly, someone human. This is probably why he asks a question before he ends the poem (as told to me by Professor Mathew Monipally, IIM Ahmedabad).

The poem does not follow a rhyme scheme, probably because it is not meant to create merry music, and has more serious matters to discuss. The meter though is almost a perfect iambic pentameter, very well maintained.

Although this poem might have many an explanation, the message of change, of revival is clear. Yeats says that whatever wrong is going on in the world must come to an end, and it can be set straight by anyone, anything if the inclination is there. The Second Coming, whatever it maybe, it is for the good, a turn of the tides, a welcome change.






mihir from India

Comment 19 of 26, added on October 7th, 2005 at 1:58 PM.

In regards to the Writer from AP,
True- One should read Things Fall Apart by Chinue Achebe- and may be can make comparisons with Yeat's Poem
Chinue Achebe novel, did in some form answered William Butler's Second Coming. Where there is a brake down in communication or in a culture, things don't hold true anymore.
On the other hand, one can also see it in terms of the evolution of the human race- or the world-

We as in humans come from a place of authentic peace, but as we are born into the world, we go through chains of change, elvolving from one culture to the other- turning and turing, in circles
the falconer in this sense- is our true creator, and we the falcon not hearing anymore the true word of reason, or peace that puts things in perspective- (as human are now seperated from our true source, and as such cannot hear our true nature, the voice of our creator) because of the events of the world, the culture(s) we are born into- war is projection of what we (humans have caused), mare anachy is losed upon the world- the effects of war- suffering amongst our fellow humans, because of the total neglect of people who should care- total ignorance of who we are is preceeded by our actions towards one another- we hate, we kill, we lie to one another, because we no longer connect with our true self or the falconer-
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold- there were changes going on around the world at that time- and still does in this time,
And then the second coming, the age of reasoning,
We are coming to terms spritually of who we are,
Christ comes to save the world in respect to christain teaching- Being again, will rekindly us to our true nature of peace- where the centers holds true- And Christ is coming again, to wake the dead-
- for those who are dead, in the sprite, there is an wakening- the second coming of Christ, would do just that- to wake us all up from our deep sleep,
At the same time, this poem can also hint on the slow progression of the THIRD WORLD CONTINENT- the chaos in the so called dark continent- mirrors the beast- or the Lion with slow thigh- and head of a man- which is why Things Fall Apart was written- to answer that sublime question possed in the poem-
i suggest reading Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but make sure you read Chinue Achebe's Things Fall Apart, because all is not true in Conrad's book.

BESS from United States

Comment 17 of 26, added on July 22nd, 2005 at 9:15 PM.

This beautiful poem was mentioned on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off series "Angel". The episode, ironically titled "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" is a gem. If you have seen this episode, and would like to discuss the series, this poem, or the use of the poem in the series, please email me. I would be delighted!

Megan from United States