The second coming

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.

1. The Second Coming William Butler Yeats Areej Asla m

2. W.B Yeats William Butler Yeats is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He was an Irish poet who wrote many poems and plays as well. He was not boastful, but spiritual arrogance came easily to him.

3. About Poem The poem was written in 1919 in the outcome of the First World War and the beginning of the Irish War of Independence. Yeats used the phrase “ The S econd B irth " instead of “ The Second Coming " in his first drafts. It consist of two stanza. It is a poem of powerful imagery and symbolism.

4. Background Europe had enjoyed almost a century without conflict and this was exceptionally a long period of peace. Then in 1914, the World W ar , the Irish Easter Rising , the Russian Revolution , and soon after, the rise of Fascism in both Germany and Italy , all followed each other rapidly. And there was great disturbance in the Europe.

5. Cont. T he poet had seen mass killings, diseases and deaths around him. This made him believe that there is no concept of morality in the world. As a substitute, the one who believes in doing the wrong things is the one who gets more benefitted.

6. Stanza 1 First stanza consist of Eight lines. Poem start with the line: Turning and turning in the widening gyre, The Falcon cannot hear the falconer The image of Falcon and Falconer continues throughout the poem.. It refers to the conflict of era.

7. Cont. The poet believed that the world history is cyclical. One era is replaced by the other which is quite opposite to the first. The image of Falcon depicts the Christian era that came around 2000 years ago and now will replace by new era which is very dark.

8. Cont. Actually the Falcon is flying away from its master and is turning in a widening gyre and can not listen to Falconer now. The image of the Falcon and Falconer can be read as a reference to the collapse of traditional social arrangements in Europe. It might be taken as the metaphor for encroaching the disorder, chaos and disintegration.

9. Cont . The blood is flowing like a stream i.e. there are mass killings, murders, and deaths everywhere. The good people or the intellectuals do not get justice while the those full of passionate intensity are enjoying. Yeats is thinking about the peaceful time of his childhood and how it is gone forever.

10. Stanza 2 This stanza consist of Fourteen lines. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand In second stanza Yeats give vision of the Second coming of Christ to save mankind like before. He observed Spiritus Mundi emerging out.

11. Cont. Though it was supposed to provide relief but the poet is troubled by seeing it. It is in the desert like Sphinx at Giza and has a head of man and body of a lion.

12. The beast is in no hurry and is moving slowly. It is unable of having sympathy with other humans or it is merciless. The situation was almost similar only the difference was that, Christ was born in Bethlehem. Beast is moving slowly in desert towards Bethlehem. The other thing is Christ was welcome and Beast looks more terrifying than welcome.

13. The end of the poem is on contrary to the biblical belief according to Yeats. According to the Christian mythology, it was believed that Christ will be born when the world would be in disorder. But after Christ there was stony sleep of two thousand years, leading to the present nightmare. This era has come to an end.

14. Desert Birds like vultures are flying around it and falcon in the first stanza was too moving in the gyre. The Falcon and the desert birds are probably the same. Suddenly darkness come over again and the vision is over again.

15. Theme This poem is about loss, about change, and about traditional meanings and values coming apart at the ridges. In the poem's conclusion Yeats suggests that out of the chaos of that era, something is arising that is darker and more evil. Good people don’t know what is worthy for them and bad people are full of desire and intensity