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Copied from .... http://www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/yeats/yeats5.html
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
1920
My Interpretation: Copied from ....
http://www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/yeats/yeats5.html
Yeats wrote The Second Coming while Europe and much of the rest of the world was
trying to recover from World War I. This was surely an important factor for him
in writing the poem. Yeats saw great social troubles all around him, and remarks
on a world spinning out of control.
Line 2 hints at technology progressing beyond mankind's ability to control it.
The problem was evident to Yeats 80 years ago, and the problem has worsened
since then. Yeats shows his concern that technology has advanced to the point
where mankind can do a great deal of harm with relative ease. The world had
never seen destruction of the likes of World War I, and most people were shocked
at the extensive loss of human life during the war.
In the time that Yeats speaks of, the rulers of the world were caught up in
imperialism and expanding circles of power to the point where they would do
almost anything to accomplish their goals. The ruthless power mongers were
outspoken and numerous, and there seemed to be few who dared to speak out
against them in the name of peace.
At one point, I had stated here that Spiritus Mundi is a Medieval text for
Christians, to inform them what they need to do to die in the grace of God. It
is essentially "the art of dying well." At this point, I must offer sincere
apologies. I must have been severely confused (and have a memory lapse) when I
wrote that, because the text that deals with the art of dying well is in fact "Ars
Moriendi". Spiritus Mundi is literally "Spirit of the World." In order to avoid
making another stupid mistake, I will refrain from comment on the meaning of
Spiritus Mundi for the time-being.
Nevertheless, I believe Spiritus Mundi leads Yeats to propose that perhaps the
Second Coming (of Christ) is near at hand: Judgement Day . . . . the end of the
world.
Spiritus Mundi brings an image of the sphinx to Yeats' mind. Yeats sees the
sphinx rising up to bring forth the end of the world. The sphinx slept in a
world of nightmares for 2000 years. The nightmares were caused by the turmoils
of the human race (line 20). The indignant desert birds (line 17) (a.k.a. humans
who foresee the Second Coming) try to stop the sphinx (the end of the world),
but their task is impossible. In the end, Yeats reveals no hope for the
continued existence of mankind.
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OTHERS' INTERPRETATIONS:
These comments are by R.P. Greenish: I very much enjoyed reading your comments
on 'The Second Coming' by W. B. Yeats, but, although very much valid, I think
that your views fail to explore the deeper meanings of the poem. Having read
Yeats' 'A Vision', a book written by him about his views on the world and how
time progresses, I am very much familiar with his ideas and beliefs. This poem
is obviously written with these ideas in mind:
The falcon in the second line, turning and turning in the widening gyre,
represents the 'gyres' or cones that Yeats refers to in his book. These govern
the progression of time and the human race, and can be represented by the 28
phases of the moon. 2000 years ago was the beginning of a new cycle, Christ was
born at exactly the right time to have a perfect soul, and now we reach the end
of the cycle, nearing the end of the 28th phase, about to start again. Yeats
inagines the rebirth of Christ as the start of the new cycle, and the revolution
at hand in the rebirth of the human race. Your analysis of the poem fits in with
the end of the cycle when the gyres dictate that we will behave as we do and
cause what is happening in the world, i.e. - wars and destruction, and
ultimately our end.
I would advise that you read this book if you are interested in Yeats, and also
some of his other poetry - 'The gyres', 'Sailing to Byzantium', 'Death', 'He
thinks of his past greatness when a part of the constellations of heaven'. All
these poems are strongly related to the views that he describes in his book.
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