William Butler Yeats, a multitalented individual won the Nobel Prize in 1923. Born the son of a well known Irish painter and religious skeptic had many influences in his life. Eventually, he converted to Paganism from Christianity. He is till this day considered one of the greatest poets that ever lived. To understand the meaning of William Butler Yeats poem “The Second Coming”, you must first understand the difference between Christianity and Paganism. Yeats was raised as a Christian and turned to pagan mysticism later in his life. Therefore, we can find the subject of this poem by tracing his flow of thought through Christianity up to the point when he diverged from it. Christianity is based around the soul. The soul becomes healthy by its removal from the sin, which it inherits in the world. A healthy or virtuous soul is close to God by contact with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can be considered the spirit of God on earth. Jesus Christ is thought to be the embodiment of the Holy Spirit, therefore the embodiment of virtue. In contrast, Pagans worship the spirit of earth as a god, believing it to be the ultimate force, which is neither good nor evil. The religion states the more base human tendencies that Christians would call sinful would be glorified as the reflections of nature. These would include pursuits of pleasure, luxury, or sexual gratification. Many modern pagans especially the ones Yeats associated with do not dispute the ideas of Christianity concerning God but they do not worship him. Early leaders of this movement, like Alister Crowley, with whom Yeats was associated with considered themselves Satanists in this right since Christians equate the spirit of the world with the devil. Yeats was certainly a Christian at some point in his life and makes allusions to Christian faith in “The Second Coming”, which would indicate that he lends some credence to it, so we can assume that he took the Satanist point of view. As the world turned towards paganism so did Yeats. The poem, while on one level is an earnest description of the change that is occurring to mankind, it is also an earnest illustration of his change to paganism. The opening eight lines illustrate the strife Yeats had seen in his lifetime from a Christian point of view. They describe man as moving away from God in a desperate tone, obviously not written by a pagan. Upon his cries to... ... middle of paper ... ... Alliteration “surely some”, “stony sleep”. Onomatopoeia is also on display “vexed”, “slouches”. The piece also includes some simile “blank and pitiless as the sun”, and metaphor “stony sleep”. The tone is set early on in the poem. It opens with a neutral tone; the non-realistic imagery makes the opening disengaged. The impact of the first two lines is not lent by tone, but by their peculiarity and imagery. The sense of devastation that pervades the poem is introduced in the second part, it is explicitly stated that “things fall apart”, and this is further emphasized by the words “anarchy”, “blood-dimmed tide”, “passionate intensity”. However, the poem itself, which is so far dealing in abstractions, lacks this passionate intensity. Its tone could be described as anxious. In conclusion, “The Second Coming” is about William Butler Yeats belief in Paganism. He vividly describes this religion and compares it to Christianity in his poem. This message although hidden can be uncovered through careful analysis and patient reading. This poem is Yeats way of telling people that the world will start to switch to paganism and as he already did at the time of writing this great piece of work.
...agery artistically to creatively examine, whether death really is the end of all humanity or whether life was merely purgatorial, a period of time allocated on earth for the purpose of atoning for our sins just like the ‘purgatorial rails’ in this poem. Alternatively it can be argued that religion is not life affirming and only death reveals, the indoctrinatory nature of religious teachings. For example the ‘sculptured dead’ were ‘imprisoned in black’ connoting everlasting torment. It almost contradictorily argues that faith on one hand is a sufferance gladly taken by citizens so they may reap their rewards in the afterlife but on the other hand Keats is demonstrating how religion is restricted and there is really no life after death. This is interesting because it controversially subverts conventions of the time that he was writing in.
"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.
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,?
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...
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
Life is full of change, it is the natural order of things, without change life would be at a standstill, without cause, just an empty world. Change is how new ideas arise, how things become better or worse, without it we wouldn’t be here on this earth. In opposition, there is also a world of changelessness, it is the only thing that remains constant in our lives, there is always change and that gives us the allusion of changelessness. Things are moving so fast that they seem to be standing still as a car flying down the road at sixty-five miles an hour, without the background we wouldn’t be able to tell of the movement. Each of these famous poems by Yeats express this view of the world in their own different stories His first being, “When You Are Old” a poem to a lost lover, in his past that he want to speak to her future person. Next there is the peace searching for him in, “Lake Isle Innis free” where he goes to escape the cities constant change, and his poem written at the same place, “The Swans at Lake Coole” as he watches the seemingly eternity living swans live forever. He finishes with the greatness of, “The Second Coming” where he strictly talks about what the human nature is losing, religion as in “Sailing to Byzantium” whereas the relation of changelessness would be the greatest ending to a life, instead of living that life over again. William Butler Yeats, has a fantastic way of expressing the opposition of the two mediums in life, Change and Changelessness.
John Keats employs word choices and word order to illustrate his contemplative and sympathetic tone. The tone could be interpreted as pessimistic and depressing because the majority of the poem focuses on Keats’ fear of death. However, if the reader views the last two lines of the poem in light which brings redemption, one might see that Keats merely wants to express the importance of this dominant fear in his life. He does not desire for his audience to focus on death, but to realize that man does not have control of when it comes. The poet uses poetic diction, a popular technique of the early nineteenth century. The poem also demonstrates formal diction that Keats is often known for. Although Keats meant for most of his words to interpret with denotative meanings, he does present a few examples of allusion and connotation. His connotations include “teeming,” defined as plen...
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.
Though written only two years after the first version of "The Shadowy Waters", W.B. Yeats' poem "Adam's Curse" can be seen as an example of a dramatic transformation of Yeats' poetic works: a movement away from the rich mythology of Ireland's Celtic past and towards a more accessible poesy focused on the external world. Despite this turn in focus towards the world around him, Yeats retains his interest in symbolism, and one aspect of his change in style is internalization of the symbolic scheme that underlies his poetry. Whereas more mythological works like "The Shadowy Waters" betray a spiritual syncretism not unlike that of the Golden Dawn, "Adam's Curse" and its more realistic fellows offer a view of the world in which symbolic systems are submerged, creating an undercurrent of meaning which lends depth to the outward circumstances, but which is itself not immediately accessible to the lay or academic reader. In a metaphorical sense, then, Yeats seems in these later poems to achieve a doubling of audience, an equivocation which addresses the initiate and the lay reader simultaneously.
...se in their once-strong social system. The “Second Coming” Yeats’ refers to is also addressed in the book, as Achebe relates the second coming to the arrival of the white missionaries. Through the writing of his book, Achebe is able to express his feelings of unfairness and hatred that he attributes to the Christians that had torn his people apart. Especially toward the Christians, who believe in the “second coming”, he scoffs at their hypocrisy and the corruption they bring. It should be noted that Yeats’ poem has multiple interpretations regarding its meaning, and Achebe’s comparison between them is strictly only based on what Achebe himself believes is the poem’s purpose. Through these two pieces of literature, Achebe is able to accurately describe his opinion of the white missionaries, as well as provide a picture of the conflict that result from their arrival.
Although, this poem can be seen as a poem showing impartialness rather than overall being dark and grim. This poem is a great example of Modernism being displayed by William Butler Yeats, because of its speakers unusual thought process. Also, even though William Butler Yeats had a great impact on Modernism, especially during his time, he still wrote in the Victorian style. Therefore, William Butler Yeats was a great poet, who greatly influenced the style of writing during his time, and the Modernistic style of writing after him.
It is uncertain what mysteries the Second Coming will entail. Through the use of symbolism and allusion, Yeats has described how one world meets its horrid demise. However, the birth of the new world's fate will also bring dark repression and havoc. In Yeats' eyes, history well repeats itself, which is evident of the looping spires of the gyre. In addition, the "ceremony of innocence is drowned," indicates that faith, like the act of communion, no longer exists. Although life is full of hopes and dreams for a better world, Yeats makes us speculate if that could ever be possible. It is evident that Yeats' pessimistic view on the Second Coming shows that he is fearful of change as well as the uncertainties of the future. However, one must go on believing and living one's dreams, or one too, will see life as Yeats so boldly foretells.
This refrain enforces his disgust at the type of money hungry people that the Irish have become. In the third and fourth stanza, however, Yeats completely changes the tone of his poetry. He praises the romantics of Irish history, such as Rob...
At the end of lines 20, 22, 25 and 26 there are exclamation marks which shown strength and a fight, the transition from the first part of the poem to the second is defined by the introduction of a theme of desire, passion and fear all of which are interlinked in religious teachings but the poem is using the good parts of religion and then quickly switches to the...
W. B. Yeats is one of the foremost poets in English literature even today. He was considered to be one of the most important symbolists of the 20th century. He was totally influenced by the French movement of the 19th century. He was a dreamer and visionary, who was fascinated by folk-lore, ballad and superstitions of the Irish peasantry. Yeats poems are fully conversant with the Irish background, the Irish mythologies etc. Yeats has tried to bring back the “simplicity” and “altogetherness” of the earlier ages and blend it with the modern ideas of good and evil. Almost all his poems deal with ancient Ireland ...