The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats

The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats

  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.
  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: a waste of desert sand;
  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
  Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
  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?

A Few Thoughts…

On this poem:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

I think Yeats is the only poet I’ve ever come across to use the word ‘gyre’ in a poem. In falconry, a young bird is trained to obedience; to essentially disregard its natural instinct, and return to the falconer. ‘Gyre’ indicates a circular or spiraling movement, akin to what you might witness in a whirlpool or twister – something that can be neither controlled nor tamed, something inherently dangerous.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe, the eminent Nigerian novelist, used this line as the title of his best-known work. One of the main themes of the book is the disintegration of traditional African values leading to social and cultural vitiation.

The Second Coming…

…a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi…

…And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Second Coming traditionally refers to the return of Christ. Spiritus Mundi is a reference to Yeat’s belief in a ‘Spirit World’ that transmits universal symbols to the minds of those receptive to them. Yeats in his ‘Second Coming’ foresees not a triumphant return of Christ, but rather the start of a dark reign.

On a personal note:

I’ve always thought this a memorable poem, and an interesting one, but rather obscure – a perfect poem for literary discussion. An attempt to understand it would require delving into Yeats’ mysticism, his philosophy, use of symbols, and his reaction to the events that were roiling his times, among them the Russian Revolution and the First World War.

My favorite line in the poem is this one –

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity

A perilous state for a society to find itself in at any time. These words keep echoing in my mind when on a sudden whim I decide to follow current events; but on to less frightening matters - Happy Halloween!