Poem: The Second Coming (1 Viewer)

[LaLaLa3]

hey

can anyone help me out with analysing this poem?

I need to relate it to the absence of spirituality in 20th century life.

Here it is:

>>The Second Coming
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: somewhere in sands of the desert
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
Reel 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?
>>>>Wiiliam Butler Yeats

any help would be appreciated. thanks!

 

[201055]

hey

can anyone help me out with analysing this poem?

I need to relate it to the absence of spirituality in 20th century life.

Here it is:

>>The Second Coming
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: somewhere in sands of the desert
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
Reel 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?
>>>>Wiiliam Butler Yeats

any help would be appreciated. thanks!

Ahh interesting, this poem was used by Matthew Reiley's 'Scarecrow' to denote the concept of anarchy as well

I'd say first talk about the context of the poem- it was written shortly after 1919 following the First World War, a time when people were questioning the actual existence of a God (spirituality) which allowed such carnage of humanity to take place. This also consequently brought about a rejection of Realism (portraying things as it is) and rise of Modernism (Believing there is now a collapse of traditional structures and values, a void of spirituality and meaning; essentially a world in need of repair).

"TURNING and turning..." use of repetition denotes humanity spiralling into a spiritual demise, devoid of any meaning or sense of purpose and direction.

"Mere anarchy..." use of juxtaposition to initially confuse the responder, and seeking to dwelve deeper for a more fulfilling meaning. What the responder perhaps discover is, there is none- the stark simplicity of anarchy arises when there is a collapse of any spiritual meaning.

"The blood-dimmed tide..." use of figurative language to denote a world void of any spiritual meaning, as one which brings connotations of brutality, emptiness and impending violence.

"The ceremony of innocence is drowned..." use of paradox in describing a 'ceremony' and innocence'- connotations of happiness, freedom and fulfillment, with 'drowned'- connotations of extinguished ideals. This is reflective of Yeat's spirtualess post-WWI world, where the killing of humanity by both sides as all but destroyed any spiritual meaning to the word innocence.

"Second Coming..." use of biblical alllusion with reference to the return of Jesus to fulfill the rest of his messianic prophecy, and the anticipation of the gathering of dark forces that would fill the population's need for meaning with a ghastly and dangerous sense of purpose. This emphasises how there is a lack of spiritual meaning and the need for almost a 'miracle' to replace this void.

"A shape with lion body and the head of a man..." a religious reference to that of a sphinx, which was decribed as 'a brazen winged beast associated with laughing, ecstatic destruction' (Yeats). Again, connotations of emptiness and impending annihilation as a result of lack of spiritual guidance.

"of stony sleep..." a textual allusion to "The Book of Urizen" by William Blake, where in Blake's poem Urizen collapses because he is unable to bear the battle in heaven he has provoked. To ward off the fiery wrath of his vengeful brother Eternals, he frames a rocky womb for himself: "But Urizen laid in a stony sleep / Unorganiz'd, rent from Eternity." During this stony sleep, Urizen goes through seven ages of creation-birth as fallen man, until he emerges. This is the man who becomes the Sphinx of Egypt". Such allusions draw reference to one which lacks spiritual meaning, with allusions to an unexplainable battle to the carnage of WWI.

Just some quick deconstruction i've done, maybe fix it up a bit
-(All references taken from www.wikipedia.com)

 

[LaLaLa3]

thanks so much, that was very helpful.

 

[201055]

A pleasure