Assignment - 1 : Analysis of W. B. Yeats’s Poem ‘The Second Coming (2024)

About the W. B. Yeats’s :

Background and Early Life:-

Born on June 13, 1865, in Dublin, Ireland. His father, John Butler Yeats, was a lawyer and artist, and his mother, Susan Pollexfen Yeats, came from a wealthy family. Spent much of his childhood in County Sligo, fostering an interest in Irish folklore and the supernatural.

Education and Literacy Beginnings:-

Enrolled at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin in 1884 to study painting. Started writing poetry and joined the Irish Literary Society. Met George Russell (AE) in 1887, beginning a close friendship and collaboration.

Literary Career:

Published his first book of poetry, "The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems," in 1891, drawing on Irish mythology and establishing himself in the Irish Literary Revival. Continued to publish poetry collections, such as "The Wind Among the Reeds" (1899), "In the Seven Woods" (1903), and "The Tower" (1928).

Involvement in Theatre:

Co-founded the Irish National Theatre Society in 1899, later known as the Abbey Theatre. Wrote numerous plays exploring themes of Irish nationalism, folklore, and the occult, including "The Countess Cathleen" (1892) and "Cathleen Ni Houlihan" (1902).

Interest in Mysticism:

Involved in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, reflecting his interest in mysticism and the supernatural. These themes are evident in his later poetry.

Personal Life and Politics:

Married Georgie Hyde-Lees in 1917, with whom he had two children. Became involved in Irish politics and was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Appointed to the Irish Senate in 1922.

Recognition and Legacy:

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923, the first Irishman to receive the honor. Died on January 28, 1939, and buried in Drumcliffe Churchyard in County Sligo, Ireland. Considered one of the most important poets of the 20th century and a significant figure in Irish literature and culture. His work continues to be studied and celebrated worldwide.

Yeats remains a highly regarded and influential figure in modern literature, and his work continues to be studied and celebrated around the world.

William Butler Yeats was a prolific writer, and his body of work includes poetry, plays, essays, and other writings.

This list includes some of Yeats's most significant works across various genres, including poetry, drama, essays, and prose.

Poetry Collections:

"The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems" (1891)

"The Wind Among the Reeds" (1899)

"In the Seven Woods" (1903)

"The Tower" (1928)

"The Wild Swans at Coole" (1917)

"Responsibilities, and Other Poems" (1914)

"The Green Helmet, and Other Poems" (1910)

Plays:

"The Countess Cathleen" (1892)

"The Land of Heart's Desire" (1894)

"Cathleen Ni Houlihan" (1902)

"The Shadowy Waters" (1904)

"On Baile's Strand" (1904)

"The Hour-Glass" (1903)

"Deirdre" (1907)

"The Player Queen" (1919)

"The Cat and the Moon" (1924)

Essays and Prose:

"The Celtic Twilight" (1893)

"Ideas of Good and Evil" (1903)

"The Trembling of the Veil" (1922)

"Essays and Introductions" (1961)

"Autobiographies" (1926)

"The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats" (multiple volumes)

Other Works:

"A Vision" (1925)

"Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry" (1888, editor)

"Reveries Over Childhood and Youth" (1916)

"The Secret Rose" (1897)

"The King of the Great Clock Tower" (1934)

Poem:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming

Historical Background of the Poem :

Between 1815 and 1914, Europe relished an unusually prolonged period of peace after the Napoleonic Wars. However, in 1914, World War I erupted, disrupting this tranquility.

The war's aftermath saw the rise of communism in Germany and the swift ascent of fascism in both Germany and Italy.

This sequence of events unfolded rapidly, thrusting Europe into a tumultuous era of conflict and ideological upheaval, marking a stark departure from the century of peace it had enjoyed

Poetic Devices :

Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in close proximity. Example: "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds within words in close proximity. Example: "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."

Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds within words in close proximity. Example: "The pitter-patter of rain on the rooftop."

Rhyme: Similarity of sounds between words, often at the end of lines in poetry. Example: "Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you."

Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things without using "like" or "as." Example: "Her eyes were stars shining brightly in the night."

Simile: A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as." Example: "He runs as fast as a cheetah."

Personification: Giving human characteristics to non-human entities or abstract concepts. Example: "The wind whispered secrets through the trees."

Hyperbole: Exaggeration for emphasis or effect. Example: "I've told you a million times!"

Imagery: Descriptive language that appeals to the senses, creating a vivid mental picture for the reader. Example: "The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted through the air."

Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or concepts. Example: The dove is often used as a symbol of peace.

Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate the sound they represent. Example: "Buzz," "crash," "hiss."

Repetition: Repeating words, phrases, or lines for emphasis or effect. Example: "I have a dream" (from Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous speech).

Gyre:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;”

A gyre is a spiral cone shape and part of Yeats's complicated view of mysterious historical forces. As one gyre of history gives way, another one takes over.

Yeats is thinner in his writings than in his talk; very little of himself goes into his literature.

Similarly it may be said very truly that he is " thinner " in his verse than in his prose.

Yeats employs in the first line (denoting circular motion and repetition) a nod to Yeats’s mystical belief that history repeats itself in cycles.

Yeats regrets that the man has become from the restraints of morality , religion and discipline.

It is preoccupied with image , symbol , imagination , poetic process , and the role of the poet . It is more , however , than a disquisition on poetry , although it is less than a key to total understanding of the poems . Sometimes bewildering and arbitrary but always absorbing , the book does manage to lock together the fragments of Yeats ' vision of the universe.

Yeats incorporates his own view of history and future through the image of the " gyres " , cone - shaped spirals that intersect so that each gyre's narrowest point is contained inside the widest part of the other.

Spiritus Mundi:

The second part sounds Christian in the beginning , but develops an image whose source is not Scripture but Spiritus Mundi , and which concerns something like an Egyptian Sphinx , and the passing of Christ in his favour.

Spiritus Mundi is the term he used for this collective unconscious.

With its animal body and human head, perhaps this beast says something about the "nightmare" to come. Though humans have tried to civilise themselves and improve their world, perhaps their more beastly animal nature has only been hidden, not defeated.

This type of hybrid creature is quite common in various mythologies, and is meant to convey a kind of freakishness, a sense of nature somehow going wrong.

Thus the image symbolises the coming historical phase of evil.

But the Beast is not imitating Christ's Second Coming at all . It is imitating his first coming.

Bethlehem:

Christians hold Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, the divine son according to their faith. Located in what is now Palestine, Bethlehem carries significant religious significance.

Hence, Yeats could portray the concept of the second coming with a fervor akin to the anticipation and feeling of imminent renewal witnessed amidst the shock and upheaval that shattered American complacency in recent years.

The notion of the Second Coming in Christianity anticipates Jesus' eventual return to Earth to deliver salvation to the righteous.

Penned shortly after the conclusion of World War I, a conflict that claimed millions of lives and left widespread devastation, Yeats's work resonated deeply with the grim reality of humanity's capacity for self-inflicted harm

"The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats stands as a poignant reflection of the tumultuous era of the early twentieth century. It resonates with themes of historical cycles, the disintegration of established structures, and the ominous potential for chaos to breed a new, menacing order. Through a masterful interplay of literary techniques such as striking imagery, potent symbolism, and skillful manipulation of metaphor, allusion, repetition, rhyme, and enjambment, the poem delivers a stark warning about the precariousness of human civilization. Its language, both vivid and haunting, serves as a clarion call to remain vigilant against the looming threats capable of undoing the fabric of society.

Themes :

Violence :

"The Second Coming" is a response to a world wracked by violence. Yeats wrote the poem 1919, right after the end of World War I, in which 16 million people were killed in a horrifying display of the power of modern technological warfare and of the continuing conflicts that wracked the supposedly modern, civilized world. The poem voices a sense of shock, dismay, and pessimism about the future that many felt after the war. Lines like "blood-dimmed tide" and "mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" both eloquently describe the horrific chaos of war and violence.

Prophecy :

"The Second Coming" is a deeply ominous poem, full of foreshadowing. Like mythical Greek oracles of old, delivering prophecies in the form of fragmented predictions of the future, it is full of grandiose, dramatic premonitions that do not necessarily make the future much clearer: all it is sure of is that something is going to happen, and the world will never be the same.

Cyclicality :

Circles and cycles reoccur persistently throughout the poem. The first line describes all of existence as a "widening gyre," or an expanding spiral. Later, "indignant birds" "reel" or circle through the sky. Yeats wrote "The Second Coming" during a chaotic time in world history. World War I had just ended, bringing unprecedented violence and chaos to the world. Also, Yeats had just witnessed the bloody Irish War of Independence, which split Ireland into two parts, as well as the Bolshevik Revolution that tore Russia apart. Traditional borders were collapsing, and precarious new ones were being drawn. Yeats believed, as many historians do, that history operates in cycles, with nothing lasting forever and with events always repeating themselves. He also believed that beginnings always lead back to where they began—to endings, to the absence of whatever constituted the circle.

This poem modifies the Christian idea of the "Second Coming" to imply that the world is returning back to how it was before Christianity: without religious morality to guide it, and without an ethical compass to lead it into the future.

Christianity :

The poem's overt Christian themes are written into its very title. Yeats himself was not a Christian;

He had abandoned the faith in exchange for an interest in occult spirituality, which involved delving into the esoteric mysteries of the universe. His own father, who had grown up as part of the Established Church of Ireland, rejected Christianity at an early age, and Yeats followed suit. But unlike his father, Yeats was deeply invested in spirituality, constantly seeking a philosophy of life, which eventually led him towards occultism and a sort of religious faith in the power of words.

In this poem, Yeats uses Christianity as a stand-in for all order, ethics, and tradition. He borrows this poem's title from the Book of Revelations, which describes Christ's return to earth after the end times as a "second coming" (the first, of course, having been Christ's return after his crucifixion).

Crucially, in the Bible, Christ's return always occurs after a death—of himself, or of the world, in the case of the Book of Revelations. The world is spinning towards a kind of death, Yeats predicts in this poem, but what rises out of the ashes will not be Christ—it will be a mysterious "rough beast."

Meaninglessness :

"The Second Coming" is about loss, about change, and about traditional meanings and values coming apart at the seams.

The line "the center cannot hold" basically predicted (and can be used to summarize) modernism and postmodernism, two gigantic literary genres that defined the twentieth century, and both of which—especially postmodernism—fixated on the idea that much of life is meaningless, hollow, without defined order and certainly without the comforting linearity and order that religion and tradition provide. The center cannot hold—there is no more core meaning or logic to be found, and only time will tell what will rise out of the ashes.

Conclusion :

In brief, William Butler Yeats's poem "The Second Coming" reflects the tumultuous era following World War I, warning of the collapse of established structures and the rise of chaos. Through vivid imagery and potent symbolism, Yeats explores themes of violence, prophecy, cyclicality, Christianity, and meaninglessness, offering a stark commentary on the fragility of human civilization and the struggle to find meaning in an uncertain world.

Word count : 2358
Images : 5

Works Cited :

Carberg, Joan S. “‘A Vision’ by William Butler Yeats.” Daedalus, vol. 103, no. 1, 1974, pp. 141–56. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024196. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Hexter, George J. “THE PHILOSOPHY OF WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.” Texas Review, vol. 1, no. 3, 1916, pp. 192–200. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43465700. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Ransom, John Crowe. “Yeats and His Symbols.” The Kenyon Review, vol. 1, no. 3, 1939, pp. 309–22. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4332091. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.

Yeats, William Butler, and WB Yeats. “The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming. Accessed 25 April 2024.