n the Poem "The Second Coming" from William Butler Yeats is about revolutions, (John 2.18). When Yeats wrote "The Second Coming" the world around him was filled with violence and turmoil. Due to WWI had just ended, The Russian Revolutions had started, and The Angelo Irish War was approaching. That left Yeats trying to come to terms with the end of an age and the changing future of the 20th Century. For Yeats, the future of the world was in chaos and this left Yeats struggling to understand his own personal beliefs in religion. This is seen throughout “The Second Coming." For the poem “The Second Coming” Yeats uses a narrator, for his writing in "The Second Coming" he used a new form of writing for the time called automatic writing, this form of writing left Yeats looking down different paths of religion and mysticism and more into the world of the supernatural. This new form of writing is where Yeats could dictate spirits that would take over his writing. In "The Second Coming " he uses an elegant syntax and uses different words such as the word Spiritus Mundi in Latin instead of saying the Anti-Christ and Bethlehem in the meaning of Christ's birthplace. Yeats continues his search for religion throughout the poem in “The Second Coming by using a pose sonnet, he liked to break up the coherence of his sonnets and write them to be rugged, colloquial, and to have concrete language, and he liked to rhyme, and often off-rhymed for example, in “The Second Coming” the sun and the man are the only words that rhyme, he also uses linear writing and short sentences. Yeats continues in his search for religion in “The Second Coming” from the genre, to the patterns, that even follow the symbolism of the poem. Yeats uses the genre that is Poetry and uses several patterns where he writes about the world being in trouble and the 20th Century is asleep and where the earth is being transformed into a desert, where darkness of black shadows are taking over the earth and a beast is rising, he explains this in many ways throughout “The Second Coming”. Yeats also talks and relates back throughout the whole poem in talking about the falcon circling as the same as the “gyre” circling. As symbolism throughout “The Second Coming Yeats
Nature is first described in a peaceful and confident mood as something majestic, with the sun as the powerful being which controls this nature. However, by the end of the first stanza, “The hawk comes”. This phrase is said as if the narrator is afraid of the hawk and its presence is going to change the mood of the rest of the poem. The next stanza suddenly uses sharp diction, such as “scythes”, “honed”, and “steel-edge”, to illustrate the hawk’s stunning motions and the powerful aura of the hawk that is felt just from its existence, causing the mood of the poem to slowly transition to fearful, yet respectable. The narrator adores this change the hawk is causing on nature, and describes the scene with the hawk in awe, showing how the poet finds the changing of nature attractive.
Slouching Toward Bethlehem took ideas from WB Yeats Poem “The Second Coming” where both pieces of writing for inspired by the following of wars. In “the second Coming”
Conflict is the basis of all human interaction and hence is an integral part of human life. Through ambiguous yet comprehensive treatment of conflict W. B. Yeats has ensured that his works stand the test of time and hence have remained ‘classics’ today. Through my critical study I have recognised that Yeats’ poems Easter 1916 and The Second Coming are no exception. Yeats’ poetic form, language and use of poetic techniques; such as juxtaposition, allusion, and extended metaphors, alert audiences to both the inner and physical conflict that are the foundations of both poems. It is through this treatment of conflict that supplies audiences with the ability to individualise the reading and hence engage a broad range of
The question of whether good can be separated from evil is integral to the text of The Second Coming. In as much as it is not one’s interest to uncover the events of Yeats’ generation, it is necessary to note that the poem was written at a time during wars. Arguably, there seemed not to be any ‘good guys’ that time as every country was sending its men to war where they had to live in trenches for months. Worse still, the wars that time were motivated by minor issues such as disagreements over small patches of territorial land. Throughout the poem, the implication is that the society has gone to a wrong way, so much that people do not care to act responsibly. A situation is depicted at the beginning where the falcon, understood to be a symbol of tradition and nobility is deaf and
In the poem “The Second Coming”, by William Butler Yeats. He writes this poem after World War I, around 1919. Yeats is a Irish poet, who came from Protestant parentage. The over all theme of the poem is that God will come back again. There are many versions to how God will appear, but in this poem bad things happen first in order for God to come. In “The Second Coming,” Yeats uses symbolism to unfold the meaning of the poem.
Yeats was a confessional poet - that is to say, that he wrote his poetry directly from his own experiences. He was an idealist, with a purpose. This was to create Art for his own people - the Irish. But in so doing, he experienced considerable frustration and disillusionment. The tension between this ideal, and the reality is the basis of much of his writing. One central theme of his earlier poetry is the contrast
The epigraph starts by introducing a falcon which doesn’t feel safe and starts to get more out of control. When comparing the novel "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe and William butler Yeats poem "The Second Coming", at first there
The Poem “The Second Coming” from William Butler Keats, is about Revolutions, (John 2.18). When Keats wrote “The Second Coming” the world was filled with violence and turmoil, WW1 had just ended, The Russian Revolutions had started, and the world was on the eve of The Angelo Irish War. Through these events, Keats looked around his world and was left trying to understand these events that left him struggling with the concept of religion. Keats felt the world was changing and because of these events the 20th Century was changing and that an end of an age was upon the world. Keats uses the narrator to tell the story of “The Second Coming” and uses the language in his poems of Irish traditions and the Gaelic language to bring back the old traditions of Irish culture through his poems. In “The Second Coming” Keats uses automatic writing, to write this poem, Keats could dictate spirits that would take over his writing and used elegant syntax and Latin’ to describe the spirit of the universe instead of saying the devil or the anti-Christ and uses Bethlehem in the meaning of Christ’s birthplace. Keas uses a pose sonnet, Keats liked to break up the coherence of his sonnets and write them to be rugged, colloquial, and to have concrete language, he rhymed through his poetry but often off-rhymed for example, in “The Second Coming” the sun and the man are the only words that rhythm and used linear writing and short sentences. Throughout “The Second Coming” Keats uses the importance of symbolism such as of the “gyres” more and more
When You are Old, by William Butler Yeats, represents and elderly woman reminiscing of her younger days. A past lover whispers to her as she looks through a photo album. Basically, Yeats is showing that as the woman gets older, she is alone, but she does not have to be lonely. She will always have her memories for companionship.
Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," written in 1919 and published in 1921 in his collection of poems Michael Robartes and the Dancer, taps into the concept of the gyre and depicts the approach of a new world order. The gyre is one of Yeats' favorite motifs, the idea that history occurs in cycles, specifically cycles "twenty centuries" in length (Yeats, "The Second Coming" ln. 19). In this poem, Yeats predicts that the Christian era will soon give way apocalyptically to an era ruled by a godlike desert beast with the body of a lion and the head of a man (ln. 14). Critics have argued about the exact meaning of this image, but a close reading of the poem, combined with some simple genetic work, shows
Mr. Yeats relates his vision, either real or imagined, concerning prophesies of the days of the Second coming. The writer uses the Holy Bible scripture text for his guide for because no one could explain this period of time without referring to the Holy Bible. He has chosen to present it in the form of a poem, somewhat like the quatrains of Nostradamus. The poem does not cover all the details of this event, but does give the beginning of the powerful messages, and a dark look at those ominous days surrounding the Second Coming of The Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps he is trying in his own words to warn everyone about the end time days.
Yeats purposely allows for interpretation throughout the poem especially within the last stanza. In the first three stanzas the world of the faeries is portrayed as wild and free while the world of the child
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dramatist, and a prose writer - one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century. (Yeats 1) His early poetry and drama acquired ideas from Irish fable and arcane study. (Eiermann 1) Yeats used the themes of nationalism, freedom from oppression, social division, and unity when writing about his country. Yeats, an Irish nationalist, used the three poems, “To Ireland in the Coming Times,” “September 1913” and “Easter 1916” which revealed an expression of his feelings about the War of Irish Independence through theme, mood and figurative language.
William Butler Yeats wrote “The Second Coming” after World War 1 ended, in a time when the image of society was catastrophic. Yeats was deeply affected by these horrors caused by the war. Yeats predicts this image of a catastrophic society due to war will reappear in the near future. In “The Second Coming”, William B. Yeats uses a variety of literary devices to portray his idea of what the downfall of society will look like.
"A Prayer for My Daughter" is a poem written by William Butler Yeats in 1919. This poem is a prayer-like poem. And it generally tells about the poet's ideas about his daughter who is sleeping at the same time while the poem is being told. Throughout the poem Yeats reflects how he wants his daughter's future to be. This essay will analyze the poem in three sections: 1- What does this poem mean?, 2- The poetic devices, imagery, rhyming, figures of speech, used in the poem and mood, diction, language, and the structure of the poem, 3- An essay in a feminist point of view titled "What does the poet want his daughter to become?" .