Allusion To God in “The Second Coming”, by William Butler Yeats

When Yeats moved back to London to pursue his interest in Arts, he met famous writers like Maud Gonne. The Poem “To Ireland in the Coming Times” is one of the poems Yeats wrote in 1892 and was published in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends. “Know, that I would accounted

The first, symbolism in the poem is the ax. the ax symbols strength and contour. In the poem,” Sir Gawain laid hold the ax and he hefted it high…” (Line 5). When

    The last three lines of the poem, "And all their eyes still fixed, hoping to find once more, /Being by Calvary’s turbulence unsatisfied, / The uncontrollable mystery on the bestial floor," are the strongest. Yeats is saying that, although they are unhappy with their lives, they have not given up hope. They still feel that they can find perfect happiness. They realize that this happiness cannot be found in the lives they are currently living. Yeats often used the image of the cross or of Christ’s crucifixion to symbolize things such as "discord, incompleteness, opposition, mortality, temporality" (Ellmann and O'Clair, 135). With this line, he is saying that these people have given up hope that they will ever be happy in their hectic, strife-filled, material worlds. They are now turning to God in order to find some sense of peace and fulfillment in their lives. The

We can be more specific and see what the poet and writer exactly talk about. It is better to focus on the poem first as it was written before the novel. In his poem William butler Yeats is shocked by the events which were happening during the First World War. “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned…”, he tries to picture the dark ages of the war and the nasty events which were happening by using some metaphors and similes such as “a shape with lion body and the head of man” or “shadows of the indignant desert birds” Therefore, he manage to transmit the terrifying atmosphere of his time to the reader. He can not stand this state of fairs so he thinks that it is the end and he hopes that it is time for the second coming of Christ.

In his dream, the water is disturbed by "winds... blowing from all directions and lashing the surface." (Dn. 7:2) In the Inferno, Virgil explains that cries of the damned under the marsh "make the water bubble on the surface." (VII, 119-120) The arrogance of Filippo matches a feature of the fourth beast, who has an unusual horn, which "had human eyes and a mouth and was boasting proudly." (Dn. 7:8) This theme of evil arising from the sea is echoed in Revelation, where John "saw a beast coming up out of the sea." (Rev. 13:1) Like Filippo, the beast was a leader of men and refused to subject itself to God's will. It is significant that Virgil and the pilgrim are never touched by the water. They, like Noah, pass safely through the water with God's assistance. It is important to remember that Noah "lived in fellowship with God." (Gn. 6:10) The Elhoist goes on to emphasize that "Noah did everything that God commanded." (Gn. 6:22) Noah, because of his voluntary subjugation to the divine will. Another significant parallel is the Exodus of God's people from Egypt. The Sea of Reeds is a marshy region to the North of the Red Sea proper. However, the Israelites, who "did as they were told," were able to cross "the sea on dry ground." (Ex. 14:4, 22) The Egyptians, who were motivated by selfish anger at the loss of their slaves were destroyed. The bodies of the Egyptians were submerged in the mire. The parallel is very close to the description given by the

The question of whether good can be separated from evil is integral to the text of The Second Coming. In as much as it is not one’s interest to uncover the events of Yeats’ generation, it is necessary to note that the poem was written at a time during wars. Arguably, there seemed not to be any ‘good guys’ that time as every country was sending its men to war where they had to live in trenches for months. Worse still, the wars that time were motivated by minor issues such as disagreements over small patches of territorial land. Throughout the poem, the implication is that the society has gone to a wrong way, so much that people do not care to act responsibly. A situation is depicted at the beginning where the falcon, understood to be a symbol of tradition and nobility is deaf and

The use of symbolism is seen when the author discusses, “wintery seas” (line 4) which symbolizes the wanderer’s loneliness and isolation, because the sea is at a standstill much like the wanderer is stuck in his own exile. This is also expressed in the line, “a heart that is frozen” which not only symbolizes the wanderer’s isolation but also his inability to find a place that feels like home. Because of this the wanderer then comes to the conclusion that he feels most alone when he reflects over his life, but manages to outweigh that with his dreams of one day finding a home. When people long for the things they can no longer have it results in them falling into a deep depression, just like how the wanderer longs for a life he can no longer have which has resulted in his

The epigraph starts by introducing a falcon which doesn’t feel safe and starts to get more out of control. When comparing the novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe and William butler Yeats poem "The Second Coming", at first there

Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," written in 1919 and published in 1921 in his collection of poems Michael Robartes and the Dancer, taps into the concept of the gyre and depicts the approach of a new world order. The gyre is one of Yeats' favorite motifs, the idea that history occurs in cycles, specifically cycles "twenty centuries" in length (Yeats, "The Second Coming" ln. 19). In this poem, Yeats predicts that the Christian era will soon give way apocalyptically to an era ruled by a godlike desert beast with the body of a lion and the head of a man (ln. 14). Critics have argued about the exact meaning of this image, but a close reading of the poem, combined with some simple genetic work, shows

William Butler Yeats's poems "Easter 1916" and "The Second Coming" each portray the theme of rebellion. However, rebellion is not always heroic and these two poems clash with one another to prove this point. "Easter 1916" contains text which presents rebellion as a positive action; whereas, "The Second Coming" makes the reader believe rebellion only leads to pure chaos and disorder until the end of time. In addition, Claude McKay's poem "If We Must Die" supports the idea of rebellion as a positive, honorable movement with examples throughout the text. Tales of rebelliousness and heroism have been used throughout history to inspire and give

Mr. Yeats relates his vision, either real or imagined, concerning prophesies of the days of the Second coming. The writer uses the Holy Bible scripture text for his guide for because no one could explain this period of time without referring to the Holy Bible. He has chosen to present it in the form of a poem, somewhat like the quatrains of Nostradamus. The poem does not cover all the details of this event, but does give the beginning of the powerful messages, and a dark look at those ominous days surrounding the Second Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps he is trying in his own words to warn everyone about the end time days.

The poem has many different hidden meanings but they are all based around a common theme of faith.

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dramatist, and a prose writer - one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century. (Yeats 1) His early poetry and drama acquired ideas from Irish fable and arcane study. (Eiermann 1) Yeats used the themes of nationalism, freedom from oppression, social division, and unity when writing about his country. Yeats, an Irish nationalist, used the three poems, “To Ireland in the Coming Times,” “September 1913” and “Easter 1916” which revealed an expression of his feelings about the War of Irish Independence through theme, mood and figurative language.

Therefore, in the second stanza “Too dark in the woods for a bird,” (line 5), he uses this imagery to express that even birds cannot live in the woods because of how much darkness is present. Birds singing resemble happiness, and the woods and its darkness are showing two scenes contradicting each other, showing in some way the deeper meaning beyond the literal one. Another symbol used by Frost was light, symbolizing hope: “The last of the light of the sun.” In this line he gives a clue to the reader expressing how even though it was dark, there could still be a chance for light to come in those woods for some hope and maybe

William Butler Yeats wrote “The Second Coming” after World War 1 ended, in a time when the image of society was catastrophic. Yeats was deeply affected by these horrors caused by the war. Yeats predicts this image of a catastrophic society due to war will reappear in the near future. In “The Second Coming”, William B. Yeats uses a variety of literary devices to portray his idea of what the downfall of society will look like.