An Analysis of Yeats' The Second Coming
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
…show more content…
7-8), and his central images, the "rocking cradle" of Christ (ln. 20) to the "rough beast" (ln. 21).
Other kinds of echoes, literary rather than poetic, emerge as well; Yeats connects "The Second Coming" with Shelley's Prometheus Unbound in lines 7 and 8, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity" (Drake 53), and even, Jeffares suggests, the Divine Comedy, by altering the "hawk" of an earlier draft to more closely resemble the "ample circuit" of a "falcon" described in Dante's masterpiece (A Commentary 241). Yeats surely made these allusions to borrow the literary scale of these prophetic masterpieces. But far more important in this respect is his borrowings from the Bible. Most central and obvious are the Second Coming of Christ described in Matthew 24 and the beast of the apocalypse from Revelations, but Purdy also notes "the vision chapters of Daniel (7-12)," "Isaiah's prophecy of the Day of the Lord (14.6-11, 19-22), 'old Ezekiel's cherubim' (10.1ff), and Jeremiah's denunciation of Isreal (2)" (75), not to mention Yeats' location of the beast's birth at Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ two thousand years ago (Jeffares, W. B. Yeats 38). The Bible is, of course, the western world's primary work of prophecy, and Yeats' use of its language gives his own work a tone of prophecy.
The tool of Yeats' prophecy, crystallized in the "widening gyre" traced by the falcon, is a concept Yeats detailed
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
“Vacillation” is a poem by William Butler Yeats that explores the source of joy and how it can only be achieved if one understands what grief is. The poem begins with the speaker using extremities to question what exactly joy is. In the second stanza of the poem Yeats introduces a mystic tree that is half burning in flames and is half abounding with foliage. In the third and fourth stanzas the persona advises the readers to gather all possible materialistic wealth, destroy it, lament over it, and then reflect upon those achievements, as genuine happiness can only originate from the grief one receives from acknowledging their achievements of the past. Through personification, ominous imagery, and the imperative tense Yeats accentuates that
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
In the poem “The Second Coming”, by William Butler Yeats. He writes this poem after World War I, around 1919. Yeats is a Irish poet, who came from Protestant parentage. The over all theme of the poem is that God will come back again. There are many versions to how God will appear, but in this poem bad things happen first in order for God to come. In “The Second Coming,” Yeats uses symbolism to unfold the meaning of the poem.
oday, there are more than two billion Christians living in the world, making it the world’s largest religion. All these Christians believe in the “Second Coming,” a phrase which alludes to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to judge humanity at the end of the world. Both William Butler Yeats and Dannie Abse have unique visions about “The Second Coming” of Christ at the end of the world. Through the use of stunning, violent imagery and terrifying ritualistic diction, William Yeats believes that the world was on the threshold of destruction and the world was losing control of itself. However, Yeats also gives us hope that “the second coming” will bring a new creature towards Bethlehem. On the other hand, Dannie Abse incorporates
William Butler Yeats specialized in the early Modernists style of literature. Coming just out of the Late Victorian age, Yeats used strong literary and historic elements in literary form to evoke his symbolic message in "The Second Coming." Through the use of his theme of the "new Apocalypse," (lecture notes on Early 20th Century Modernism) he imagined the world was coming into a state of unsurity from the post-WWI Modernist experience. The war left people in a state of chaos, and although the war was meant to bring people a sense of hope for no more wars in the future, it did far more damage then good, especially in people's minds. The time in the Modernist era was
Yeats was a confessional poet - that is to say, that he wrote his poetry directly from his own experiences. He was an idealist, with a purpose. This was to create Art for his own people - the Irish. But in so doing, he experienced considerable frustration and disillusionment. The tension between this ideal, and the reality is the basis of much of his writing. One central theme of his earlier poetry is the contrast
Vivid images, from visions, to detailed explanation and accounts of places and events, to symbolic imagery used to explain parables, or teach and encourage the first century churches are driving forces within the Biblical text. Metaphorical language, by virtue of the fact that it preserves the literal meaning of the symbol, while intending an analogical secondary meaning, is able to communicate profound truths about reality, mainly by creating an alternative, symbolic way of seeing and understanding the world. (Liubinskas, Susann. 404) Throughout the New Testament of the Bible the most commonly used images are the: body of Christ, and vine imagery. These images work together to create a powerful example of the necessity for unity among individual believers, and that unity tying them Christ.
When You are Old, by William Butler Yeats, represents and elderly woman reminiscing of her younger days. A past lover whispers to her as she looks through a photo album. Basically, Yeats is showing that as the woman gets older, she is alone, but she does not have to be lonely. She will always have her memories for companionship.
“The Road Not Taken” and “Nothing Gold Can Stay” are just two of many very famous poems, written by none other than Robert Frost. Robert Frost is a poet that is well known for his poetic contributions to nature, as well as his award winning poems. His poetic ability and knowledge make him an extraordinary author. His past; including schooling, family, and the era in which he wrote influenced nearly all of his poems in some way. This very famous poet contributed to the modernism era, had a family and an interesting life story, and a unique poetic style as well.
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.
To understand the meaning of William Butler Yeats poem "The Second Coming", you must first understand the difference between Christianity and Paganism. Yeats was raised as a Christian and turned to pagan mysticism later in his life. Therefore, we can find the subject of this poem by tracing his flow of thought through Christianity up to the point when he diverged from it.
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.
In The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats, Yeats explains the destruction of war caused by man and his inability to hear god because his own ideas are clouding his judgement. The poem describes Yeats’s prediction of a second world war caused by the wrongdoings of man through the biblical allusion of the second coming. Yeat’s also uses diction and symbolism to emphasize a gloomy and depressing setting. However, the destruction of man is not only caused by the actions of humans, it is often caused by their lack of
"A Prayer for My Daughter" is a poem written by William Butler Yeats in 1919. This poem is a prayer-like poem. And it generally tells about the poet's ideas about his daughter who is sleeping at the same time while the poem is being told. Throughout the poem Yeats reflects how he wants his daughter's future to be. This essay will analyze the poem in three sections: 1- What does this poem mean?, 2- The poetic devices, imagery, rhyming, figures of speech, used in the poem and mood, diction, language, and the structure of the poem, 3- An essay in a feminist point of view titled "What does the poet want his daughter to become?" .