Summary:
It is uncertain what mysteries the Second Coming will entail. Through the use of symbolism and allusion, Yeats has described how one world meets its horrid demise. However, the birth of the new world's fate will also bring dark repression and havoc. In Yeats' eyes, history well repeats itself, which is evident of the looping spires of the gyre.
"The Second Coming: A Painful Truth""
For hundreds of centuries, man has pondered what revelations or spiritual awakenings will occur in future's time. Poet William Yeats, has written, "The Second Coming," which foretells how the Second Coming brings horror and repression to the world. Yeats takes into speculation that the future will certainly bring further darkness than is already present in the current world. He employs various symbols and allusions to assert his claims of the world's ultimate demise. The purpose of these symbols and allusions make it possible to fully understand Yeats's point of view of the fall of our present civilization and the rise of a new civilization with a gloomy future.
One of Yeats' major symbols, the "widening gyre", is used systemically to show the destruction of the current civilization and the emergence of a new one. The continuing "turning and turning" of the gyre (line 1) illustrates the last breath of a period of history and its plunge into a new repressive world. Additionally, the widening of the tornado-like gyre parallels the intensity of the old world's present chaos. As the spiral of the gyre grows, the falcon (line 2) flies higher and higher where it can no longer hear its master, thus signaling the crumbling of the natural order of the world. The "center [of the gyre] can no longer hold." The symbolic occurrence of the gyre's ongoing function further shows to replenish itself by the arrival of the "rough beast" which marks the beginning of the new era. Furthermore, the hovering of the "indignant desert birds" symbolizes the formation of the new gyre, which begins as a small compact spiral, just as the previous one once was. Consequently, the desert birds are present to again wait for death to strike as the new world eventually spirals into massive chaos and darkness. This process repeats itself over and over, which marks the beginning and ending of continuous cycles of history.
Another major symbol that Yeats employs is the sphinx-like character that presents itself at the second coming. The sphinx represents a satanic, domineering, merciless monster, which in turn represents the horrendous terror of the new world to be. Yeats describes the sphinx as a "rough beast" with birds of prey circling around it, thus symbolizing a new age of violence and death. In a broader context, the publication of this poem in 1920 results from the recent conclusion of World War I. Mass destruction and death ensued following the war further suggesting Yeats' theory that after the "twenty centuries of stony sleep" conclude, widespread horror and repression will fall by the coming of the rough beast.
The poems' dominate and crucial allusion, "The Second Coming," is ironic in how Yeats' defines it. Yeats alludes to the second coming from the New Testament of the Bible.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
This allusion stems from the Christian belief that one day the son of God will return to Earth and bring spiritual renewal and salvation. The Second Coming will mark the beginning of a new and better world. However, Yeats makes use of the Second Coming not as it is widely believed. Conversely, the irony he creates is defined from his belief that instead of Jesus marching valiantly towards Bethlehem and bringing peace, a sphinx-like creature with a "lion body and the head of a human" will take Jesus' place and "slouches towards Bethlehem" to bring suffering and turmoil. Yeats alludes to the sphinx in order to define the kind of totalitarianism ancient Egypt was under during the rule of the pharaoh, which had his people under constant slavery and starvation.
It is uncertain what mysteries the Second Coming will entail. Through the use of symbolism and allusion, Yeats has described how one world meets its horrid demise. However, the birth of the new world's fate will also bring dark repression and havoc. In Yeats' eyes, history well repeats itself, which is evident of the looping spires of the gyre. In addition, the "ceremony of innocence is drowned," indicates that faith, like the act of communion, no longer exists. Although life is full of hopes and dreams for a better world, Yeats makes us speculate if that could ever be possible. It is evident that Yeats' pessimistic view on the Second Coming shows that he is fearful of change as well as the uncertainties of the future. However, one must go on believing and living one's dreams, or one too, will see life as Yeats so boldly foretells.
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