Introduction of the Poem:
"The Second Coming" is one of the finest of all Yeats’ poems. In it, Yeats has tried to generalise his foreboding into historical statement, but since the historical idea is itself ambiguous, it simply confirms the confusion of fear and hope from which the poet begins. This poem was written at a time when Yeats was puzzled by the violence displayed by events like the Easter Rebellion of 1916, the Irish Civil War and the World War First.
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| W.B. Yeats’ Poem, The Second Coming: Summary and Critical Analysis |
He felt that the times were out of joint and a great change was likely to take place in the world. In the poem the poet believes that the process of history is a cyclic one. It is like the movement of rapidly rotating gyres or cones. He believes that the present cycle of history is almost over. A new civilization is to born out of the ruins of the older one. He refers the disintegrating state of the world. There is anarchy and disorder all round. Therefore Yeats foresees the end of this materialistic world.
Summary of the Poem:
Stanza 1:
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.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. Turning and turning= in his trance the poet sees a gyre or cone rotating fast on its fixed axis or centre. 2. In the widening gyre = as the gyre rotates fast, its circumference gradually widens. 3. Widening = extending, growing wider. 4. Gyre = cone, a solid circular figure tapering to a point. 5. Falcon = a small bird of prey trained for sport. 6. Falconer = one who breeds and trains hawks. 7. Thing fall apart = disintegration sets in and the things are scattered. 8. The centre = the centre of the axis. 9. Cannot hold = cannot keep integrated. 10. Mere ... world = now only anarchy rules over the world 11. The blood ... loosed= there is violence and bloodshed everywhere. 12. Everywhere ... drowned= everywhere the traditional way of life, a way which has always fostered purity and innocence is in the danger of extinction. 13. The best ... conviction= the sanest people are changing their beliefs which they ever held firmly. 14. The best= the sanest. 15. The worst = the evil - minded people. 16. Full of ... intensity= intensely violent and blood thirsty.
Paraphrase:
The widespread murder and bloodshed in Ireland and Europe filled Yeats with gloomy forebodings. The poet believes that the present cycle of history which began two thousand years ago with the first coming of Lord Christ is coming to an end. The new cycle of life would begin with the second coming of Lord Christ, which is at hand. The poet compares the process of history to the rotational movement of a gyre. In a state of insensibility, the poet sees a gyre rotating rapidly round on its axis. It indicates a change of civilization and age. Its circumference gradually widens and finally the centre fails to control its very fast movement. It means that the present civilizations are gradually losing their established existence. They (civilizations) have lost their centres and have turned to disintegration. The falcon, a bird of prey has stopped paying its attention to its master or trainer. It has gone beyond control. It has become violent. The falcon's loss of contact implies man's separation from every idea of himself that has enabled him to control his life whether this comes from religion or philosophy. It may also mean that man has ceased to hear the call of soul. Due to having too much attachment with materialism man has lost morality, spirituality, sociality and religiosity. Man has adopted barbaric tendencies. He has become violent. It is clear that anarchy has escaped from its prison to rein over the world. Everywhere there is sheer anarchy because of man's separation from spiritualism and his total acceptance of and subservience to science and materialism. The world has drowned into bloodshed and violence. Piety, innocence and other virtues are drowned in this bloody tide. The best, the wisest and the aristocratic have lost all faith and conviction whereas the worst, the masses, are fanatical, irrational and violent.
Stanza 2:
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 Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in 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.
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. Surely ... hand = all this anarchy, violence, bloodshed and disorder implies that a new civilization is about to be born and the old one is going to be an end. In other words, second incarnation of God seems to be at hand. 2. At hand = near. 3. Revelation= disclosing of knowledge by a supernatural agency. 4. Second coming= the second incarnation of God in the form Jesus Christ is very near. 5. The Second ... out= as soon as the thought of second incarnation of God flashes across the poet's mind. 6. When ... sight = the poet sees the image of some vast form coming out of the store house of images. 7. Spiritus Mundi = the storehouse of the spirits, but a kind of images in Yeats’ philosophy. 8. Vast image= huge figure. 9. Troubles my sight = this fierceful and huge image does not please to the eyes of the poet. 10. Somewhere ... desert = coming out of some far desert. 11. A shape ... man = a sphinx - like being with a man's head and a lion's body. 12. A gaze ... Sun = the figure has an empty and fiery look. 13. Is moving ... thigh = this monstrous like image moves slowly with a clumsy, awkward movement towards Bethlehem, the birth place of Christ. 14 Slow thighs = slow movement of legs. 15. Reel= to hover the image. 16. Indignant = moved by indignation.
Paraphrase:
When the poet sees that now this world is completely inspired with anarchy, violence, bloodshed and disorder and nobody can resist its downfall, he at once think of the first incarnation of God in the form of Jesus Christ at the complete downfall of civilization. He thinks of the process of history. He thinks that just as God incarnated Himself in human body of Christ when Roman civilization broke down about two thousand years ago and now the same moment has arrived. The world has plunged into the tide of bloodshed and violence. In this case the Second Coming (second incarnation of God) is imminent. Jesus Christ will appear in this world again and save mankind with his blood. Christian civilization has almost run its course of two thousand years. The present cycle of the history is almost over and a new history is about to begin. All the ugly happenings taking place in the world indicate that some divine power is about to descend on earth to restore order and piety in society. As soon as the thought of Second Coming (second incarnation) rises in poet's mind, he sees a huge and monstrous like image (figure) appearing from the store house of the spirits. This fierceful image does not provide pleasing effect to the eyes of the poet. The poet is horrified to see a sphinx - like being. This image has the body of a lion and the head of a man. It is gazing with blank and pitiless look. Its eyes are growling fire. This monstrous like image seems to be coming out of some far desert. It is moving slowly with a clumsy movement towards Bethlehem, the birth place of Christ. It seems as it, too, would be born there. The image is so monstrous, so nightmarish that the desert birds full of hatred and anger begin to scream to see its glimpse. The birds of desert begin to fly side to side in great terror. The shadows of the horrified desert birds can be seen.
Stanza 3:
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?
Explanatory Word - Meanings:
1. The darkness ... again = then the monstrous like image of the strange creature which the poet visualises, disappears and the poet's mind is surrounded with darkness again. 2. But ... know = but the poet is absolutely convinced. 3. That twenty ... cradle = this ferocious creature assuming the body of the lion and man had been sleeping soundly for twenty centuries, but now its sound sleep has been disturbed and it has awakened to see the horrible dream from its swaying cradle. 4. Stony= lying like a lifeless stone. 5. Vexed= disturbed. 7. Rocking cradle = small, low bed swaying to and fro. 8. Beast = wild animal. 9. Slouch= to walk or move with an awkward bearing.10. Bethlehem = birth place of Lord Christ.
Paraphrase:
When the poet comes to the conscious state, the vision of a monstrous like animal fades away. But he comes to know that the image of ferocious creature which he has visualised is an indication of the death of old civilization and the birth of the new one. During the twenty centuries of the Christian civilization, this beast has been sleeping in a cradle without any disturbance. No one has teased its sleep. It has been lying like a hard and lifeless stone for twenty centuries. But now its sound sleep has been stirred. It has assumed very aggressive form. It has born empty and merciless look. This ferocious animal is moving slowly, but steadily towards Bethlehem, the holy land of Christ to be reborn. It is coming to undo what has been done, for a new era is to be ushered in amidst blood, toil and tears.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
Introduction:
The poem entitled “The Second Coming” is one of the most popular poems of W. B. Yeats. The poet gives expression to his prophetic insight. He has tried to generalise his immediate foreboding into a historical statement. It was published in the American Magazine The Dial, in 1922. In the poem, the poet sets his own age in the perspective of eternity and condenses a whole philosophy of history into it. He expresses his inner gloominess. The widespread murder and bloodshed in Ireland and Europe resulting from the Easter Rebellion of 1916 and Irish Civil War followed by the First World War filled Yeats with gloomy forebodings. The poem is based on some philosophical ideas of Yeats. It reflects some of Yeats ' most esoteric ideas. This poem contains a horror - vision of the destruction of the world as we know it and the prophecy of an era of infinite cruelty and agony.
Thought - Content:
The poet believes that the present cycle of history which began two thousand years ago with the first coming of Lord Christ, is coming to an end. The new cycle of life would begin with the second coming of Lord Christ, which is at hand. The process of history has been compared by the poet to the rotational movement of a gyre. Just as a gyre rotates on its fixed axis and goes on making widening circles till it falls and disintegrates, similarly in the process of history, things go on moving and moving till they fall apart and die to be reborn. In the backdrop of the Irish Rebellion and the First World War, the poet visualises a great change coming over the world. He sees that people are violent and blood - thirsty. There is complete anarchy in the world. Innocence, piety and virtue have no place in the present scheme of things. It is clear indication that some incarnation is at hand to restore the lost values of life and initiate the process of history anew. He sees in his vision a shape with a lion body and the head of a man moving towards the birth - place of Lord Christ to be born. This would be the ‘second coming’ and it would supersede Christ who was born two thousand years ago at Bethlehem. The new period in human history would be one of the monstrous animal powers.
Theory of Rise and Fall of Civilization:
The basic idea of this poem is related to the ‘system’ which Yeats has explained in A Vision. Yeats has a theory regarding the rise and fall of civilizations. A civilization begins with a moments of inspiration or revelation, such as the birth of Christ, and the progress of a civilization is like the unwinding of thread wound on a cone or gyre. Thus, at first, a civilization is very narrow and intense, like the apex of a cone, but it gradually loses its impetus, broadens, and so dissipates its energies. As this happens, an opposite inspiration, which has been gaining strength, takes over and begins a new civilization. The poet believes that a full circle of the wheel, that is, the Moon, corresponds in time to approximately two thousand years. At the beginning of each one of such two thousand year - period, a new dispensation is announced. This pattern can be seen in the history of the world from about the year 2000 B.C.
The Use of Symbols and Imagery:
The poem illustrates Yeats’ use of symbols. The “ceremony of innocence” represents for Yeats one of the qualities that made life valuable under the dying aristocratic social tradition. The expression “falcon and the falconer” have both a symbolic and a doctrinal reference. A falcon is a hawk and a hawk is symbolic of the active or intellectual mind; the falconer is perhaps the soul itself or its uniting principle. “Spiritus Mundi” refers to a general store house of images which have ceased to be the property of any personality or spirit. Images derived from this store house have both an absolute meaning of their own and an operative force in determining meaning and predicting events in this world. Yeats believes that signs, warning, even direct messages flow from “Spiritus Mundi”. The shape with lion body and the head of a man represents mindless and merciless violence.
Form, Style and Language:
The poem is written in blank verse. It consists of twenty - two lines, in two verse paragraphs, the first of eight lines, and the second of fourteen. Its texture is enriched by typical Yeatsian half rhymes, of Anglo - Irish rhymes, like ‘gyre’ and ‘falconer’, ‘hold’ and ‘world’, ‘man’ and ‘Sun’. The first stanza of the poem is notable for its deliberate use of a kind of high rhetoric rather than images- “mere anarchy”, “the blood - dimmed tide”, “the ceremony of innocence” etc. In last stanza, there are three key - images: a desert, the flight of birds and a terrific monster moving slowly in the vast stretch of sands. The dramatic and dynamic quality of Yeats’ great poem arises out of a complex process of absorption and elimination. He discards all that is redundant and nothing that is significant seizes on the intense moment of a situation and consequently, evokes from the reader an immediate response to the poetic passion.
