William Butler Yeats

1865–1939

William Butler Yeats is widely considered to be one of the

greatest poets of the 20th century. He belonged to the
Protestant, Anglo-Irish minority that had controlled the
economic, political, social, and cultural life of Ireland since
at least the end of the 17th century. Most members of this
minority considered themselves English people who
happened to have been born in Ireland, but Yeats was
staunch in affirming his Irish nationality. Although he lived in
London for 14 years of his childhood (and kept a permanent
home there during the first half of his adult life), Yeats
maintained his cultural roots, featuring Irish legends and
heroes in many of his poems and plays. He was equally firm
in adhering to his self-image as an artist. This conviction led
many to accuse him of elitism, but it also unquestionably
contributed to his greatness. As fellow poet W.H.
Auden noted in a 1948 Kenyon Review essay entitled "Yeats
as an Example," Yeats accepted the modern necessity of
having to make a lonely and deliberate "choice of the
principles and presuppositions in terms of which [made]
sense of his experience." Auden assigned Yeats the high
praise of having written "some of the most beautiful poetry"
of modern times. 

Analysis of Yeats’ Poet, “The Second Coming”

 I)
 
Introduction
The second coming is the poet of 20
th
century period when the industrialization reached its
peak and many modern countries started the war for the
freedom or for the settlement of other country.In this era
British played the most significant part as the country which
declared war againstother country and joined its force with
some of other European country known as west block. Asa
transcendentalist and the pillar of establishment between
Irish and British through literaryworks, William Butler Yeats
wrote the poem
the second coming 
as his expression of his hatred insocial condition that
always suffered because of war. He thought that war always
needs the
sacrifice from innocence people; even they didn’t know
anything about. This poem is written in
satire form with some of the mythical element inside it
because Yeats had long life interest inoccult, mystic,
spiritualism, and astrology in his early life as a young man.
According to the background of life of Yeats, he was
proposed a marriage to a woman named Maud Gonne I
1899,1900, & 1901. Bu
t three times she rejected him. But Yeats didn’t
give up easily. He thencontinued his pursue to her and it
was started when he visited her to congratulate her as her 1
st
 son birth, Sean Mac Bride. But later she and her husband
got divorced and this is the chance for Yeats to marry her
(Hone, 1943). As some literary analyst show this poem as his
illustration of his long awaited pursuit for his beloved.
Illustration

There is a falcon that flies around to hunt its prey ordered by

its master. But later that falcon flies too far away that even
its master cannot see his falcon. The falcon can see there is
blood spread everywhere; people do no longer understand
the differences between good and evil.

Suddenly the narrator speaks about the Spiritus mundi,

world of eternal symbol and the relation with mythical
element in the world such as sphinx in the Egypt that has
lion body and human head, the condition on the earth where
darkness veils because of human passion, and about the
second coming of Jesus Christ to drop the curtain of Satan
and bring the peace and light on the earth [Online 4].

Theme
Theme is about the war always causes misery because of
human greediness for seeking Gold, gospel, & glory.

General Meaning

The second coming is the poem that tells about the situation
of Irish after World War I and Yeats as the author want to
emphasize his feeling to the reader that it was the time for
Irish people to be freed from the settlement of Britain and
Irish people have power to do. Yeats also shows his interest
in occult through this poem in stanza 2 that is dense with
nuance of mythical beast and something that related with
book of revelation as if there will be second coming of Jesus
on the earth because of the greediness of human caused by
the influence of Satan empire [Online 1].
e voice of Irish people.
An Analysis of W.B. Yeats' 
The Second Coming

Wrote this poem. Eerie similarities between the chaotic

state of the nations and the prophecy outlined in the Book of
Revelation led many Christians at the time to ask whether
the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ was at hand. But
Yeats, with his deep history of occultism, would have loved
for such an event to wipe out Christianity and usher in
worship of spirit, or unity, of the earth and nature.

Line-By-Line Interpretation:
“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,”

 During and after WWI, Europe, and in many other places

of the world, countries were pitted against one another;
for example, Russia became communist in 1917.
Economic instability, another prophecy of end time in
the Book of Revelation, was rampant in this time, where
a day’s pay was only enough for, “loaf of wheat bread or
three loaves of barley” (Revelation 6:5-6).
The falcon leaving the falconer, or, the centre, is
symbolic of the division of the countries and the
anarchy that follows. The gyre of the falcon, a spiraling
shape extending outward, is also symbolic the
 movement of the tides and is connected to the Moon
and its phases. "Things fall apart" is a reference to
Chinua Achebe's novella Things Fall Apart, which is
described more further down.

“The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere 

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;”

 This verse means twofold: firstly, it is symbolic of the

great loss of innocent life and civilians in WWI;
secondly, it is the fulfillment of a prophecy concerning
recurring blood moons prior to the return of the Christ.

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst 

Are full of passionate intensity.”

 The ceremony of innocence refers to the pain and

suffering that is occurring during this time while the
best lacking all conviction refers to those who try to
resist the change and the worst are those who quietly
accept the situation to survive.

“Surely some revelation is at hand; 

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.”

 While the first stanza focused on events that have

already occurred, the second focuses on those to come.
These lines represent the thinking of many Christians at
the time - the accumulation of the recent war and chaos
would result in the prophesied second soming of the
Christ.
“The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out 
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi 
Troubles my sight”

 An image emerges from ‘Spiritus Mundi’, or “spirit of the

earth”, the world’s creative and active mind (cf. Anima
Mundi, the world-soul), which recalls a vision that Yeats
himself experienced when the Tattwic symbol of
Firewas pressed to his forehead by Mathers (Au 185-86)
(Neil Mann). “Spiritus Mundi” is a popular phrase in 20th
century European occultism and a huge influence on
The Second Coming and Yeats’ other poems.

“somewhere in sands of the desert 

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,”

 But Yeats deliberately does not call it a Sphinx,

describing rather than naming it (Neil Mann).This beast
is not actually a Sphinx, but rather the first beast of
Revelation 13.

“A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, 

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it 
Reel shadows of indignant desert birds.”

 The image of ‘The Second Coming’ is no heraldic

emblem but moves, its pitiless inhumanity reflected
from its human head and the reeling of the desert birds
echoes the falcon’s towering at the opening of the
poem. (Neil Mann) The ‘slow thighs’ show that after all
the disarray, there is still time before the pain that will
follow the Antichrist.
The pitiless sun is a reference to solar eclipses, another
end-times prophecy in the Book of Revelation.
“The darkness drops again; but now I know 
That twenty centuries of stony sleep 
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,”

 A gyre often denotes 2,000 years; these lines denote of

a state of bliss mankind was in since Christ came to be,
and the nightmare, or state of chaos, possibly a world
without Christianity, it is now entering.

“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, 

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

 The beast’s birth at Bethlehem links it to the birth of

Jesus, but Bethlehem is more a symbolic state (Neil
Mann). Yeats indicates that the coming beast, a
monster, is a representation of the antithesis of Christ. 

Blood Moons:
Post WWI Europe, including Ireland, Yeats’ nation of origin,
no doubt had its share of Christians with the notion that the
recent war and events were signs of the apocalypse and
second coming of Jesus Christ.

 “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;”

Eclipses are not unusual—there have been lunar

eclipses and solar eclipses for millennia. However,
when you have FOUR total blood moons back to
back it’s called a tetrad (Tetrad Blood Moons of
the 1900s).
 - 1494 to 1916—NO TETRADS
  - 1917 - First tetrad in hundreds of years. 3 years
after WWI and 2 years before this poem was
written.

 “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and,

lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as
blood;” (Revelation 6:12).

Recurring blood moons are just one aspect of this

prophecy. They must be accompanied by a solar
eclipse, just as was in Yeats’ poem where the
beast has, “A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun.”

 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall

the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her
light” (Matthew 24:29)

As such, there was a total solar on December 14, 1917 most

likely leaving some Christians at the time feeling as though
some revelation, the second coming, was at hand.

The Beast:
Though the beast in Yeats’ “The Second Coming” might at
first appear to be the sphinx, such an interpretation would
lose much of its major role in the Book of Revelation.

 “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast
rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten
horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his
heads the name of blasphemy.” (Revelation 13:1)
The Beast, with its many heads, actually makes up a list of
previous kings, with two that have not fallen yet. By giving
the “rough beast” a face, Yeats applies a level of human
form, just as in the Bible, where the coming Antichrist will
be a human born in the “sea” of nations and political turmoil,
walking onto the “sand” (Rev 1:1), bringing peace to the
disarray of nations but denying them ultimate salvation.
Revelation prophecies this false prophet will be a
charismatic political figure with a great influence on the
wars preceding:

 “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power

unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying,
Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war
with him?” (Revelation 13:4).

 “and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and
great authority.” (Revelation 13:2).

That is, Satan will give this Antichrist his great

authority.

 “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is

called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is
God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

Lastly, this Antichrist will deceive the world,

giving them peace, as well as fulfilling their
desires, but denying them ultimate salvation. The
Antichrist will have to appear as a savior, though
he is a fake messiah. [Following is added after the
assignment] Those following Judaism today are
ripe to accept the Antichrist, for they deny that
 Jesus Christ is the Messiah and are still looking
forward to the figure described in the Old
Testament.

 “Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.”
“Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

The Beast is slow moving; the Antichrist is slow

coming. By being born in Bethlehem, where Jesus
was born, Yeats acknowledges the similarities the
Antichrist will have with the promises Jesus made,
The Antichrist will be an imitator. And as the beast
travels, indignant desert birds, such as the
falcons, again symbolic of the countries of the
world, will be attracted to the temporary peace the
Antichrist will bring.

The Antichrist will eradicate Christianity as the world will

come to “worship” (Revelation 13:8) him instead, which is
what Yeats means by being "vexed to nightmare by a
rocking cradle"; that is, it will be an attack on the figure of
Jesus as alluded to by the cradle.

Critical Analysis :

The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats:Due to his

particular position of an Irish poet, it is no exception that
William Butler Yeats' poetry carries political significance;
however, the poem "The Second Coming" is a manifestation
of three core concepts primarily: a) The cyclic concept of
life which gets away from its centre during its spread and
the spread comes to a halt, eventually leading to some sort
of rebirth. b) Christian concept of the rebirth of Christ to
rescue the suffering humanity. c) The large scale production
of weapons and the World War I with its aftermath. The poet
has described the spread of time as "turning and turning" i.e.
the outward flow of time which is about to complete its life
cycle. At this stage, the entire human race is lost to
confusion and cannot clearly see what was conveyed and
professed to them by Christ. The poet sees a beginning of
the fall of Christianity's rise which has already been showing
cracks. Further, the Christian world, especially the
Europeans had already succumbed to the doubts regarding
religions. Orthodox church was being put to questions.
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot
hear the falconer;" Now European civilization is about to fall
to decadence because the centre is unable to hold on. The
centre, if seen from Orthodox Christian church, is Christian
religion which for Yeats has already weakened. There are
other eminent hints which mark the near destruction and
end of the world e.g. mass scale production of deadly
weapons. Therefore, the world is likely to go to the dogs
before its rebirth when Christ would return as a Saviour.
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is
loosed upon the world," Yeats sees the world of his time as
"blood-dimmed" because of the horrors of World War I that
he has seen. Man has lost even his "ceremony of innocence"
which he once used to display for real innocence. Nothing
remained human during the bloody wars that Europe went
through. He reminds us of the war madness and savage
thoughts of man which dominated the beginning of twentieth
century. Therefore, he feels the strong and mighty are the
"worst" that "are full of passionate intensity". If we refer
ourselves to the past events as described in Bible and the
Holy Quran; whenever the worst situation arises in the
human world, help comes from God Almighty to rescue
humanity. Therefore, the poet feels: "Surely some revelation
is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand." 

Conclusion

There is war and there is a darkness and blood spilled.

Those things cannot be separated because all are linked and
act as cause effect. If there is no darkness in the human
heart, war will not occurred, misery will not be caused.
Everyone must control their behavior first before control
other people as falconer control his/her falcon. Yeats shares
his mind to show us that conflict is always useless in every
era and place. The second coming or judgment day as a
jargon to bring the peace for a nation cannot be exist if we
are not begins and aware to stop war and conflict by
ourselves as soon as possible without waiting for the help of
others.