1. Module B: Critical Study of Texts – Poetry of W.B. Yeats
THE SECOND COMING

2. William Butler Yeats
1865 – 1939

3. The Second Coming
BACKGROUND

4. Background
The Second Coming was written in 1919, a year after the end of World War I. The poem was first published in November 1920 as part of The Dial; it was later included in Michael Robartes and the Dancer. The poem borrows heavily from Judeo-Christian mythology, especially the apocalypse and the Second Coming. The Second Coming is considered a work of modernist poetry.

5. The Second Coming
THE POEM

6. The Second Coming Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

7. The Second Coming
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

8. The Second Coming The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

9. The Second Coming
The best lack all conviction, while the worst

10. The Second Coming
Are full of passionate intensity.

11. The Second Coming Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

12. The Second Coming The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

13. The Second Coming
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,

14. The Second Coming Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

15. The Second Coming The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle

16. The Second Coming And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

17. The Second Coming
STRUCTURE

18. Structure
The Second Coming is written in blank verse: A blank verse is a poem with no rhyme but does have iambic pentameter. This means it consists of lines of five feet, each foot being iambic, meaning two syllables long, one unstressed followed by a stressed syllable. The meter is consistent, but it does not have a rhyme scheme. The poem is divided into two stanzas from 22 lines. The first stanza is eight lines long and due to its in media res feel, it might be that we are introduced to the poem, or even sonnet, in the middle. The second stanza consists of fourteen lines and is the same length as a sonnet.

19. Structure
The Second Coming does not have a traditional form. The meter is vaguely iambic pentameter. The poem begins on a stressed syllable, “Turning”. The poem also has a intrinsic linguistic vividness that is witnessed by the frequency with which is quoted. From Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, to Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, almost every phrase in the poem has been used, usually more than once, to entitle a book or an article of greater or lesser impact. Even relatively small modifications of language weaken it considerably, as is evidenced by Joni Mitchell’s generally respectful reworking, ‘Slouching Toward Bethlehem’.

20. The Second Coming
MODERNIST POETRY

21. Modernist Poetry
Modernist poetry tends to be intellectual, being imagistic (precision of imagery, and clear sharp language) and relying on symbolism, allusion, fragmentation, intertextuality and juxtaposition. The Second Coming is a modernistic poem as it makes allusions to biblical personalities (Jesus Christ) and biblical events (The Flood, The Second Coming). The intertextual references are mainly to the books of the Bible, especially Revelations. Modernist poetry is usually bleak, lacking emotion and impersonal. It is often difficult to grasp due to the grammatical, lexical and semantical density of the text. Rarely does modernist poetry confirm to the traditional forms or metrics, as it is usually written in blank, free or experimental form.

22. Modernist Poetry In 1939, Yeats wrote in a letter to a friend:
“If you have my poems by you, look up the poem called “The Second Coming”. It… foretold what is happening. I have written of the same thing again and again since.”

23. The Second Coming
SYMBOLISM

24. Symbolism: The Gyres
Conical shape consisting of series of ever-widening, connected circles
Repeating trends of history; psychological development, subjectivity vs objectivity, life vs death
An age in history spreads its “ever-widening” influence until it spends its force and ends
Each spiral = 200 years
Beginning of each new gyre brings about chaos and the destruction of the old
Poem describes current historical period (1921) – world on the brink of some apocalyptic revelation

25. Symbolism: The Gyres
The "gyre" is an important recurring symbol in Yeats’s poetry. Technically, it stands from the alternation between two historical cycles: one characterized by order and growth, the other by chaos and decay. It’s comparable to the Chinese concepts of Yin and Yang. Yeats wrote a poem called The Gyres in his collection The Tower, but even there it’s still pretty confusing. Fortunately, all that philosophical background isn’t essential to the poem.

26. Symbolism: The Gyre
Yeats had written in 1900 that: “It is only by ancient symbols, by symbols that have numberless meanings besides the one or two the writer lays an emphasis upon, or the half-score he knows of, than any highly subjective art can escape from the barrenness and shallowness of a too conscious arrangement, into the abundance and depth of Nature. The poet of essences and pure ideas must seek in the half-lights that glimmer from symbol to symbol as if to the ends of the earth, all that the epic and dramatic poet finds of mystery and shadow in the accidental circumstances of life.” (The Philosophy of Shelley’s Poetry). The symbols that he uses here similarly partake of a wider symbolism of ‘numberless meanings’ rather than just the ones which are linked to his System and the poem’s immediate inspiration, so that although a knowledge of Yeats’s ideas certainly clarifies elements in the poem, The Second Coming has no single explanation.

27. The Second Coming
ANALYSIS

28. Analysis
The title of the poem, The Second Coming, alludes to the Second Coming of Christ who will bring of Jesus Christ and the good it will bring. The poem suggests the Second Coming will not be good, but will herald in a new state of anarchy on earth. The title is derived from the Bible: Matthew 24 and St. John’s description of the Beast of the Apocalypse. The poem begins with a confident voice, a persona who appears to be reciting the present condition of the world: anarchy and things falling apart. The persona appears less confident, but no less ominous, in stanza two as it surmises that these conditions foretell of a monstrous Second Coming.

29. Analysis
Matthew 24 (ESV): “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

30. Analysis
Revelations 13:1-5 (ESV): “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marvelled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.”

31. Analysis
Revelations 20:1-5 (ESV): “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.”

32. Loss of control and order
We are plunged directly into the poet’s vision – “in media res”
Links to his theory of cyclical patterns in history
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Falconry alludes to the Middle Ages and the strong influence of the Church in feudal society. Religious matters were more important than human affairs.
The falcon is a metaphor for humanity and the falconer is a metaphor for Jesus. The order is breaking down, and anarchy is replacing order.
NEW
OLD
MAN
GOD
IMAGE FROM FALCONRY
Loss of control and order

33. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Anarchy may be an allusion to one of the biblical punishments, such as the Flood. This would definitely work in reference to the next couple of lines.
The word “Mere” means both pure and only, and the first section further emphasises the generality and absoluteness of the situation with words such as “everywhere” and “all”. The “Mere anarchy” which is loosed like a plague or scourge then becomes a tide dimmed by blood, recalling the bloody seas of the Revelation of St John, the flood from the mouth of the serpent and the vials of wrath (Rev 8:8; 12:15; 16:1-4).
As the spiral widens, as we move away from the centre, things get more and more out of control
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
oxymoron
The first three lines culminate in a statement that disorder, chaos and anarchy has been unleashed on the world – nothing lies at the centre to hold this together
It is unclear who the agent of this action is – some evil power or force

34. Worst people carry out their deeds with great vigour and enthusiasm
“The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.” Revelations 16:3 (ESV)
Allusion to the blood-filled seas of Revelation; symbolism of the tide that will destroy hope
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.
Lack of experience
Goodness
Vulnerability
Yeats appears to be alluding to Genesis 6-9 and Revelations 16:13
Best = intellectuals = head = think, do not act
People = mob = body = act, do not think
Worst people carry out their deeds with great vigour and enthusiasm
Interesting that poem was written shortly before WWII and that Yeats considered it prophetic!

35. Surely some revelation is at hand;
The phrase “The ceremony of innocence” is linked to a poem from later in 1919, A Prayer for my Daughter, where the poet asks, “How but in custom and ceremony / Are innocence and beauty born?”; here the phrase suggests a vague image of whatever the reader’s imagination summons which is then engulfed in the crimson of the multitudinous seas.
revolution
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
Call for salvation and redemption – a tone of desperation.
Mankind has reached a point where only divine intervention can save him

36. Uncertainty = threatening
Yeats may be using “desert” to link a lot of his ideas together. First, in the Book of Exodus of the Old Testament, the Jews were slaves in Egypt. Second, Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan in the desert. Third, the Sphinx is both a creature of riddles and is monstrous in appearance. Lastly, Satan was often believed to have lived in the wilderness, waiting to lure good Christians away from God.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
Collective spirit of mankind – each human spirit is linked to a single, vast intelligence
Uncertainty = threatening
“Spiritus Mundi” is, translated directly, Latin for “spirit world”. This may be used to give the impression of occult or supernatural power, but it also taps into the idea of universal consciousness.

37. Uncertainty = threatening
This is Yeats’ new messiah – “a rough beast” – in his play The Resurrection he says: “I began to imagine around 1904 as always at my left side just out of range of sight, a brazen winged beast which I associated with laughing, ecstatic destruction… Afterwards described in my poem ‘The Second Coming’”.
Allusion to the Sphinx
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.
Uncertainty = threatening
Mystic stare/trance – determination of cruel stupidity?
Simile
1st bird image: Birds are frantic – have been frightened
2nd bird image: disturbed by the movement of the Sphinx

38. The darkness drops again; but now I know
Yeats uses an extended metaphor to represent the “twenty centuries” of sleep through “stony sleep”, “nightmare” and “rocking cradle”.
Loses sight of image or vision – begins to think again – now he is filled with dread.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
Twenty centuries since the birth of Christ – little progress has been made since – mankind has been asleep.
Yeats may be using “stony” or stone as a symbol for permanence or something that endures. Sleep may be a metaphor for the complacency of humanity during this gyre. Yeats might also be using the continuity period of the Middle Ages to represent the strong religious connotations of the poem and the nature of that age.

39. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Bethlehem was the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The “rough beast” will also be born in the town, but it will give birth to a new age of uncertainty and anarchy. The beast’s birth at Bethlehem links it to the birth of Jesus, but Bethlehem is more a symbolic state than a geographical place.
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Ugliness, slyness, clumsiness, laziness
Poem ends with a question mark. Is it a puzzle or riddle? Hints at an answer throughout, but it is never fully expressed.
Lumbers towards Bethlehem. Birthplace of Jesus; second messiah?
Yeats may have seen the polytheistic past laying in stasis during the cycle of monotheism, and that may relate to his System and the gyres. The monotheistic cycle, characterised by Christianity, might be replaced by the rebirth of its antithetical counterpart.

41. Notes
The pundits who quote it, though, are picking up on Yeats’ words, but not his world view. As Helen Vendler, the great Harvard poetry scholar, and others have pointed out, “The Second Coming” is really two poems. The first eight lines are filled with the pointed aphorisms that pundits like so much, while the rest of the poem suggests the unpredictability of how history will unfold. This second, less quoted part is the one that speaks most directly to the grim situation in Iraq.
Yeats wrote “The Second Coming” in 1919, an especially dismal moment in history. Europeans were shell-shocked from World War I, and deeply cynical. Yeats’ homeland, Ireland, was lurching toward civil war. The old order in Russia had just been toppled by a revolution that Yeats — who had a fondness for aristocracy — feared would spread across the continent and the globe.
Yeats' perspective on the world’s troubles was not what many people who quote him today might suspect. For one thing, he was not a Christian [note: he was a Protestant but—yes—he was not an orthodox Christian]. He dabbled in theosophy and the occult, and considered Christianity an idea whose time had passed. “The Second Coming” is not, as its title and the Bethlehem reference might suggest, an account of the return of the Messiah. What is being born is nothing resembling Christ.

42. Notes
As for his politics, Yeats was hardly a democrat, and he did not care much for “progress” — which makes him an odd choice for people who hope to turn Iraq into a vibrant democracy. Yeats was attracted to fascism, and he rebelled as a youth against the adults’ talk of progress by embracing its opposite. “I took satisfaction in certain public disasters, felt sort of ecstasy at the contemplation of ruin,” he once wrote.
The first eight lines of “The Second Coming,” as Ms. Vendler notes, are the philosophical part of the poem. A rational, thinking observer — a pundit, of sorts — is describing the world in definite, if foreboding, terms. “The falcon cannot hear the falconer” paints a vivid image of the natural order coming apart. “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” describes an onslaught of destruction almost matter-of-factly.
But after those eight lines, the poem suddenly becomes, as Ms. Vendler notes, “oracular.” Like the Delphic oracle, this Yeats speaks cryptically. “Surely the Second Coming is at hand,” he says — but of course, “surely” here means its opposite: what follows is not certain at all. Yeats goes on to announce “somewhere in sands of the desert/ A shape with lion body and the head of a man” — an indefinite creature in an indefinite place.

43. Notes
The poem reflects, as Harold Bloom, the Yale professor and literary critic, says, Yeats’ belief that a “change in god” was coming, “and that the 2,000-year reign of Christianity was about to end.” But it does not reveal who this god will be. Its last two lines are a question: “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,/ Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
“The Second Coming” is a powerful brief against punditry. The Christian era was about the ability to predict the future: the New Testament clearly foretold the second coming of Christ. In the post-Christian era of which Yeats was writing there was no Bible to map out what the next “coming” would be. The world would have to look toward Bethlehem to see what “rough beast” arrived.
This skepticism about predicting the future has more relevance to the Iraq war than any of the poem’s much-quoted first eight lines. The story of the Iraq war is one of confident predictions that never came to pass: “We will find weapons of mass destruction”; “we will be greeted as liberators”; “the insurgency is in its last throes.”