This paper will explore the common analytical symbolism in William Butler Yeats poem "The Second Coming” written in 1919. In addition this paper will also discuss a background of the source of its symbolism. This symbolism can only be understood in the context of the essence of his life. Various scholarly analysis correlate its symbolism to his book “A Vision" written in 1925 and later revised in 1937. In his book "A Vision" Yeats does provide explanation of his esoteric system but the book is not limited to his symbolism, and certainly would be a study onto itself. For the purpose of this paper some knowledge of Yeats symbolism clarifies elements in the poem "The Second Coming” and will be provided. This being his most analyzed poem, there are as many interpretations as there are critics and analysis and there are many. Some interpretations, while interesting do not correlate the poem to his esoteric system have chosen to focus on a more scholarly analysis.
William Butler Yeats was born in Silago in Western Ireland in 1865.Yates 19th century poetic works reflective a lyrical romantic style imbued with tales of Irish myth and folklore, he made use of traditional rhyme schemes, metric patterns and poetic structure. He transitioned into the 20th century as a modernist poet where he wrote "The Second Coming" with loose meter, coincidental rhyme and Biblical allusion. In addition to mythology and folklore his writing reflects his lifelong interest in mysticism, spiritualism and the occult. His mystical interest was inspired by Theosophical Hindu studies, and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Yeats was a founder of the Dublin Hermetic Society, a secret society for mysticism. He was a member of the Rosicrucian’s, and a member of the G...
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...e vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, Here Yeats brings back to mind 'Spirits Mundi' "as darkness drops again" the veil closes, The knowledge and wisdom necessary has been imparted. The visionary now claims to know that 20 centuries has passed since the first coming of Christ. It also reinforces the time dimension of the gyre of 2,000 years. The cradle conveys the thought that something has been born, and its motion indicates the upheaval of Europe and the world.
Lines 21-22 And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born? The slouching of his rough beast conveys once again terror, Yeats is using the geographical location of Bethlehem as the destination for his beast from 'Spirits Mundi' being the birth place of Christ according to the bible. He ends the poem with a question mark for the reader to decide what is occurring.
"The blood-dimmed tied is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned". As many currently see our society today, Yeats was in fear of what the future had in store, and felt it necessary to warn society of their abominable behavior. All of the good in the society has been taken over and overwhelmed by the horrible actions. No longer do ceremonies, or acts of kindness, take place, which Yeats believes is a direct effect of the loss of youth and innocence. "That twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle". This quote from "The Second Coming" informs the society that if they do not begin to correct their transgressions against one another as a whole they will awake the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ will come to claim his Jesus and correct the predicament that they have gotten themselves in to.
However, according to my Christian beliefs, God sent his son, Jesus, to Earth to die and pay for the sins of all people, and one day Jesus will return to Earth to take all Christian believers to Heaven; I believe that Yeats named his poem “The Second Coming” because it portrays his prediction that Jesus’, “Second Coming is at hand” (524). Yeats dedicates the entire first stanza of his poem to telling the reader the problems that he sees with politics and violence/terror, “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, / The blood-dimmed tide is loosed” (524). The second stanza of the poem basically says that “surely” Jesus will return soon and he describes a beast-like character that could possibly be representing Satan, God’s demon opponent in the Book of
In regard to the Nationalists, he incorporates traditional Irish characters, such as Fergus and the Druids, to create an Irish mythology and thereby foster a national Irish identity. After the division of the Cultural Nationalists, Yeats feels left behind by the movement and disillusioned with their violent, "foolish" methods. He is also repeatedly rejected by Gonne. These efforts to instigate change through poetry both fail, bringing the function of the poet and his poetry into question. If these unfruitful poems tempt him from his ?craft of verse,?
It has been acknowledged by many scholars that Yeats' study of Blake greatly influenced his poetic expression. This gives rise to the widely held assertion that Yeats is indebted to Blake. While I concur with this assertion, I feel that the perhaps greater debt is Blake's.
In “Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop” Yeats employs two themes, the theme of good versus evil, and the theme of sexuality. He conveys the theme of good versus evil through the Bishop’s statements in the first stanza, as well as J...
'Thing fall apart the centre cannot hold' is a line in W.B Yeats poem 'The Second Coming' because of its stunning, violent imagery and terrifying ritualistic language, "The Second Coming" is one of Yeats's most famous poems, its set in a world on the threshold of apocalypse must like the three texts. The texts 'Henry IV Part 2' by William Shakespeare, 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood and the poem 'The Waste Land' by T.S Eliot deals with the topic of disintegration of and within civilisation. The authors each explore this disintegration with their own medium, Shakespeare through a play, Eliot a poem and Atwood a novel, despite the differences in form all three texts contain similarities in content, exploring conflict in gender, the role of power and religious influences.
William Yeats is deliberated to be among the best bards in the 20th era. He was an Anglo-Irish protestant, the group that had control over the every life aspect of Ireland for almost the whole of the seventeenth era. Associates of this group deliberated themselves to be the English menfolk but sired in Ireland. However, Yeats was a loyal affirmer of his Irish ethnicity, and in all his deeds, he had to respect it. Even after living in America for almost fourteen years, he still had a home back in Ireland, and most of his poems maintained an Irish culture, legends and heroes. Therefore, Yeats gained a significant praise for writing some of the most exemplary poetry in modern history
John Keats is an early nineteenth century Romantic poet. In his poem “When I have Fears that I May Cease to Be,” Keats makes excellent use of a majority of poetry elements. This sonnet concentrates merely on his fear of death and his reasons for fearing it. Though Keats’ emphasizes his greatest fear of death, he offers his own resolution by asserting that love and fame lacks any importance. Keats uses articulate wording to exemplify his tone, while using images, figures of speech, symbols, and allegory to illustrate his fear of death. His use of rhythm, sounds, and patters also contribute to his concentration of fear and the effects on his life. As one of the most famous Romantic poets, John Keats utilizes the elements of poetry in “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be” to convey his fears and allow the reader to realize how much these fears affect him.
This opposition shows Keats highlighting the delicate correspondence between happiness, death and melancholy having humanistic traits. In order to experience true sorrow, one must feel true joy to see the beauty of melancholy. However, Keats’s poem is not all dark imagery, for interwoven into this poem is an emerging possibility of resurrection and the chance at a new life. The speaker in this poem starts by strongly advising against the actions and as the poem continues urges a person to take different actions.
...at "more than their rhyming tell" ("To Ireland", 20). Yeats investment in the mystical Order of the Golden Dawn deepens his symbolic resources, extending his fascination with Celtic mythology into a syncretic spirituality which stresses the Jewish mystical doctrine known as the Kaballah. Through a combination of highly accessible rhyming and metrical poetry with such esoteric systems Yeats is able to construct a dual-level poetics in which readily traceable meanings are amplified by an acquaintance with the symbolic systems Yeats spent a great deal of his life mastering. His investment in these symbolic systems, and their ability to invoke unseen spiritual forces instantiates the poet's resistance to certain developments of modernity - such as the stress on reason, urbanity and individuality - and makes his poetic work a central aspect of his magico-religious Work.
...tember 1913, there were only a few people that made huge sacrifices for independence in their country while others had contradicted their efforts and only focused on themselves. It was seen as if the heroes died in vain. In Easter 1916, the reader is able to notice a change in the people’s views and see that they are now the ones who are fighting for Ireland’s independence in honor of their previous leaders. The change Yeats talks about is that the result of the 1916 rising and the execution of some of its leaders. In turn the country revolted into the War of Independence. The Free State resulted in dividing the country both geographically and passionately along with those who had accepted the Free State and those who didn’t.
William Butler Yeats: Modernism William Butler Yeats is an Irish poet from the nineteenth century. William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1865. He was educated in both Dublin and London, and he wrote his first verse in 1877 (nobelprize.org). He wrote many poems during his lifetime, and is thought to be the most influential poet of his era. He was very influential in the Modernism era.
For hundreds of centuries, man has pondered what revelations or spiritual awakenings will occur in future's time. Poet William Yeats, has written, "The Second Coming," which foretells how the Second Coming brings horror and repression to the world. Yeats takes into speculation that the future will certainly bring further darkness than is already present in the current world. He employs various symbols and allusions to assert his claims of the world's ultimate demise. The purpose of these symbols and allusions make it possible to fully understand Yeats's point of view of the fall of our present civilization and the rise of a new civilization with a gloomy future.
The poets shared more than a disbelief in the goodness of man's nature, they also both had religious experiences that colored their thoughts. Eliot was an atheist at the start of his life, and converted to Christianity, coming to believe in it fervently. Eliot also toyed with Buddhism during one stage of his writing "The Wasteland" (Southam 132). Yeats, on the other hand, grew up a practicing Christian and by the time he wrote "The Second Coming" was forming his own personal philosophy founded on an accumulation of everything "[he] had read, thought, experienced, and written over many years" (Harrison. 1). His philosophy, therefore, included Christianity as a factor in his life, but not nearly as significant a factor as in Eliot's life. Because of the importance of religion in both of their lives, Yeats and Eliot used many mythological and religious allusions in their poems. While both poets shared a disenchantment in the nature of man, their varying religions made them see different outcomes on mankind's horizon. Eliot saw the future as redeemable, while Yeats believed it could onl...
WB Yeats was born in 1865 in Dublin. His parents were John Butler Yeats, a portrait painter, and Susan Pollexfen. His family was upper class, Protestant and of Anglo-Irish descent. His ancestors were church rectors. His mother's famil, the Pollexfens, were known for their eccentricities manifested by an interest in astrology and magic. He was very interested in super sensual experiences and visions which came to him "from the back of his mind". Eventually, he became interested in Hinduism and the occult. During his life, he developed interests in theosophy, ancient civilizations, psychic power, spiritualism, magic, eastern religions and the supernatural which in due course led to the conception of "The Second Coming"(first published in November 1920).