Second coming
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? [1]
In The Second Coming, poet’s mind was
filled with gloom in consequence of the side-spread murder and bloodshed in
Ireland in the course of the Easter rebellion of 1916. The Irish civil war that
followed the First World War of 1914-1919 and various other events in Europe
added to that gloom.
The
poem is the outcome of a state of mind troubled with ominous forebodings. The
title of the poem suggests a new manifestation of God to man. The Christian era
draws to its close; now that its ‘great year’ of two thousand years is ending.
We do not know what the new shape of things will bed but it must be terror-filled
for us by virtue of the simple fact that it will entitle so revolutionary a
change.
W.B. Yeats uses biblical theme in his poem—The Second
Coming to provide the picture of the contemporary world where things are
falling apart and centre cannot hold. Yeats relies upon the Christian view of
history. Christian believes in cyclic history. According to the belief of
Christianity, history moves in cycle and each cycle of history consists of
2,000 years. Exactly after 2,000 years, one cycle of history ends and another
begins. As one cycle of history is about to end, disorder, chaos, anarchy,
violence dominate the world. The world is on the verge of decay and collapse.
For the liberation of the world and humanity, Christians believe then comes
Jesus Christ and the re-arrival of Christ on earth for the sake of humanity is
known as the Second Coming. Despite the modernist background, the poet is very
visionary.
The first stanza is a survey of climatic point of
first cycle of history. As the first cycle of history is about to end as
suggested by the personal symbol of gyre which stands for cyclic history. The
gyre is widening which indicates the upcoming end of the first cycle of the
history, Yeats as a symbolist uses the personal symbol falcon and falconer in the
world. The falcon is out of control of the falconer where the falcon refers to
irrationality and falconer refers to rationality or the reason. Yeats presents
the domination of the ‘irrationality’ over ‘rationality’. In the world, there
lies disintegration of morality, culture and tradition and language. In
totality human civilization is itself disintegrated. As a modernist, Yeats
laments the loss of centre—Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold’. The
phrase, ‘blood-dimmed tide’ is a reference to First World War particularly and
all the wars fought in human history in general. The world does not believe the
best but welcomes the worst. Yeats presents a dark gloomy picture of the world
dominated by irrationality, blood-shed, anarchy, violence and the disintegration
of human civilization. In the first stanza, he evokes the picture of the world
which is on the verge of decay and collapse. The description of the world in
the first stanza serves as the background for the second coming.
The poet, after presenting the climatic point of first
cycle of history, refers to the Second Coming in the second stanza. He predicts
the beastly figure with the head of a man and body of a lion—phoenix. He does
not associate the image of Christ but associates the image of an anti-Christ
with the second coming. The beastly figure is so terrific in its appearance
that it not only troubles a sight of the poet also creates fear in the desert
birds. The Second Coming is not the arrival of a Christ but the arrival of an
anti-Christ and it is not the manifestation but a divine image. Therefore, even
after this second coming, there is the continuation of darkness, disorder,
violence and again an anticipation of the Second World War and its possible
blood-shed. He explains that
people's hope of a savior coming down again was merely an illusion, and that
this "Spiritus Mundi" (Spirit of the World) is no hero, but a
monster which resembles a sphinx. This rough beast is heading toward
Bethlehem—the place of Christ. That is to say, peace is being replaced by
terror in the world since its prediction to a large extent has come true. He is
a visionary poet and this poem is prophetic one.
The
poet is also concerned with the loss of innocence from the world. Like all the
romantic poets; Yeats gives a liberal expression to his ideas in this poem.
Using his imagination he uses the biblical concept of The Second Coming. He
suggests that it is not the arrival of Christ rather the arrival of a beast
that may destroy this world. It is because of his imagination, he is capable of
predicting the manifestation of a divine image. Like romantic poetry, his
poetry is characterized by liberal expression and high flight of imagination.
This poem is composed in a very rough
iambic pentameter. Therefore, it does not follow the regular rhyme scheme.
Apart from the first four lines of the poem, the rhyme scheme is very
irregular, as it follows a certain meter but not a regular rhyme scheme. This
poem is an example of a blank verse. The regular rhyme scheme of the first four
lines of the poem suggests that the poet desires for order, unity and infirmity
whereas the haphazard rhyme scheme of the poem indicates the chaotic world
dominated by disorder, anarchy, mess, blood-shed and violence. As the human
civilization itself is disintegrated, Yeats uses the rhyme scheme which is also
disintegrated and fragmented. In that sense, rhyme scheme of the poem
contributes to the main theme of the poem.
Eventually,
The Second Coming is based upon the cyclic philosophy of gyres and
reincarnation but, allowance being made for this parable convention, can be
taken as a direct prophecy of imminent disaster. [2]
MEANING:-
Second coming
is a Christian concept regarding the
future of jess Christ after his coming’ and ascension to heaven about two
thousand years ago.
Form
“The Second Coming” is written in a very rough iambic pentameter, but the meter is so loose, and the exceptions so frequent, that it actually seems closer to free verse with frequent heavy stresses. The rhymes are likewise haphazard; apart from the two couplets with which the poem opens, there are only coincidental rhymes in the poem, such as “man” and “sun.”[i]
“The Second Coming” is written in a very rough iambic pentameter, but the meter is so loose, and the exceptions so frequent, that it actually seems closer to free verse with frequent heavy stresses. The rhymes are likewise haphazard; apart from the two couplets with which the poem opens, there are only coincidental rhymes in the poem, such as “man” and “sun.”[i]
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