How Does Yeats Use Multiple Biblical Allusions

“…the naked riders leaning forward…They rode up out of the river among the willows…” –page 45

Allusion is also an important part of this poem because of the way the author uses it to connect to the outside works that may also encourage the reader to think in a certain way that goes along with the themes of the poem. The first allusion, found in lines 7 and 8, are to the Greek gods Icarus and Prometheus. This allusion requires the readers to think about gods and religion, which is a major part of the theme of this poem. Another allusion I see is in line 20, which refers to another one of Blake’s poems, “The Lamb.” This allusion is significant because the speaker asks, “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (20) And he wonders whether or not the same creator who made something so gentle and pure could also make such an evil animal. The allusion itself brings the reader to think about the other poems and to contrast the two completely

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

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.

Possibly due to the war efforts in WWI, people saw the destruction and the lack of progression it brought the world; a "second coming" of the "rough beast…/slouching towards Bethlehem" (Yeats, Longman p. 2329, ll. 21-22), or in other words "slouching towards" religion.  I think this because earlier in his stanza, Yeats speaks about "twenty centuries of stony sleep/ Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle" (Yeats, Longman p. 2329: ll. 19-20), which leads me to think of the two thousand years religion had a grip on people's lives, and then as the more Modern generation became more and more separated from religion by its "rocking cradle," the "rough beast" took hold of the people and took the place of religions dominancy in society.  Now, people's ideas became separated from the Biblical interpretation of things, and instead took on a more personal outlook and interpretation of its own as to what the meaning of all these things (WWI) meant.  Chaos then took place, and religion lost its stronghold for good.  The "centre [could]not hold" the people in religion, the "rough beast" (chaos) became their dominant concern.

The fact that Yeats refers to history as a gyre shows that he has a negative view of humanity. The speaker also mentions how the falcon does not hear the falconer, which also illustrates how the world is crumbling. The next two lines say “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” This solidifies the idea that the world is crumbling, and even though the anarchy, or chaos, is small, there is definitely more to come. The speaker then goes on to say that “the blood-dimmed tide is loosed,” which is a biblical allusion that represents God’s vengeance for disobedience, and that “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

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

To begin with, we have to create a theme of diction. In the poem, The Second Coming Yeats uses the word anarchy is said a state of disorder due to absences or non recognition of authority. The reason why society is crumbling is because of this awful anarchy. “Turning and turning in the widening

This conflict signified the birth of modern warfare. Yeats believes that The Great War was the catalyst for the end of stability in Europe and he uses religious allusions to develop this idea by comparing the second coming to contemporary times. The first stanza of Yeats's “The Second

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

The text of the poem is also important for the reader to understand. In lines 1-4 of the poem, the reader can see that Leda is being attacked. It goes in to detail about her thighs being caressed. At this point the reader is starting to understand that there is some sexual images in the poem. Yeats’ captures the image with “wings beating still above the swaggering girl” and “her nape caught in his bill”. Yeats contrasts those images with the soft images of “her helpless breast upon his breast”. In lines 5-8, Yeats shows the image of rape by the force that “her fingers” can’t push the “feathered glory from her loosening thighs”. In lines 9-14, again Yeats is giving the reader a graphic image of the rape, but also alluding to the fall of the Greeks and expressing the power of Gods over humanity.

In The Second Coming, by William Butler Yeats, Yeats explains the destruction of war caused by man and his inability to hear god because his own ideas are clouding his judgement. The poem describes Yeats’s prediction of a second world war caused by the wrongdoings of man through the biblical allusion of the second coming. Yeat’s also uses diction and symbolism to emphasize a gloomy and depressing setting. However, the destruction of man is not only caused by the actions of humans, it is often caused by their lack of

The fifth stanza describes the quality that Yeats came to see as at the very heart of civilized life: courtesy. By courtesy he understands a means of being in the world that would protect the best of human dignity, art and emotion. And in his prayer for his daughter he wishes that she will learn to survive with grace and dignity in a world turned horrific. He explains that many men have hopelessly loved beautiful women, and they thought that the women loved them as well but they did not.