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Learn about the poem's themes, imagery, symbols, and poetic devices. The Second Coming is a famous poem that imagines a grotesque beast as an alternative to the Christian Second Coming.
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- Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
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‘The Second Coming’ was William Butler Yeats’ ode to the era. Rife with Christian imagery, and pulling much inspiration from apocalyptic writing, Yeats’ ‘The Second Coming’tries to put into words what countless people of the time felt: that it was the end of the world as they knew it and that nothing else would ever be the same again. The First Wor...
Stanza One
Much has been written on the apocalypse, and many of those writings focus on the harbingers of the event: it is always bloody and massive, a vicious explosion that shakes the world to its foundation. In Yeats’ poem, the apocalypse is a much quieter, more understated, affair. It opens up with the disturbance of nature. Falcons were used as hunting animals since the medieval era. They are incredibly smart, and dedicated to their trainers, responding immediately to any noise that their handler m...
Stanza Two
In the second stanza, the Biblical imagery takes over the visions of corrupted nature. From the start, Yeats ties his poem to religion by stating ‘the Second Coming is at hand’, and conjuring up a picture of a creature with a lion’s body and a man’s head, much like the sphynx, and a gaze as ‘blank and pitiless as the sun’. By comparing it to the very nature that Yeats spoke about in the first part of the poem, he brings out the almost infallible quality of this beast: like nature, it feels no...
W.B. Yeats was an Irish poet born on the 13th of June, 1865. He is considered a largely Irish poet, although he ran in British literary circles as well, and he was a big part of the resurgence of Irish literature. In 1923, he was to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his poetry, as the first Irishman. This was shortly after Ireland had finally g...
Learn about the apocalyptic imagery and symbolism of 'The Second Coming', a poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Read the poem, the meter, the comment, and the biography of the poet.
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A poem that describes the world on the brink of an apocalyptic revelation and a new age of mysticism and primal power. The speaker sees a sphinx rising in the desert and a rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem as symbols of the coming change.
The Second Coming study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes.
The Second Coming study guide contains a biography of William Butler Yeats, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes.
Learn about the poem's historical context, symbolism, and mystical theory of history. The speaker reflects on the violence and chaos of the 1910s and prophesies a new age presided over by a sphinx-like creature.
Read our complete notes on "The Second Coming", a famous poem by William Butler Yeats. Our notes cover The Second Coming summary and detailed analysis.
