“The Second Coming” William Butler Yeats and His Influence on Chinua Achebe

Achebe’s Access to Yeats Although Chinua Achebe is from Africa, he was educated in England and had a love for English literature. The title of his novel, Things Fall Apart, comes from a poem by Irish Poet William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” (1921). Yeats was a poet, dramatist, critic and Senator in Ireland (another country colonized by the English), and was devoted to building Irish culture and Literature.

Excerpt 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

Yeats’ Philosophy About History Yeats believed that the cycle of history was divided into 2000-year cycles, which he called “gyres.” The first great era/cycle was the Classical Age (invasion of the mortal by immortal – think Greek mythology) Yeats believed that the Christian Era (another invasion of mortal by immortal with birth of Christ) was coming to an end and the one that would follow (unknown and unnamed was heralded by the dissolution of civilization, a mark of all major changes in human history (evidenced by brutality and desolation of WWI.

The Gyre