The second coming

by W.B. Yeats

A collection of 15 of Yeats' most famous poems, including "The Second Coming" and "Easter, 1916."
"The Second Coming" is viewed as a prophetic poem that envisions the close of the Christian epoch and the violent birth of a new age. The poem's title makes reference to the Biblical reappearance of Christ, prophesied in Matthew 24 and the Revelations of St. John, which according to Christianity, will accompany the Apocalypse and divine Last Judgment. Other symbols in the poem are drawn from mythology, the occult, and Yeats's view of history as defined in his cryptic prose volume A Vision. The principal figure of the work is a sphinx-like creature with a lion's body and man's head, a "rough beast" awakened in the desert that makes its way to Christ's birthplace, Bethlehem.

Other poems in this collect include 'Easter, 1916,' which chronicles Yeats' complicated feelings on the execution of Irish patriots of the Easter Rebellion in Dublin.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature, Religion, School, Irish Literature, Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).

Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slow paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.
--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[B. P. Rinehart]

From October 26, 2012:

So I may be cheating or contradicting myself in relation to my view of Dover Beach but I feel I have a good case here (that and I am proudly bias toward this genre).

The Second Coming is W.B. Yeats' masterpiece of post-WWI poetry. Like many in his circle he was in an absolute state of shock and horror at the breakout and aftermath of the first world war. At that time, many thought such a thing could not happen in a post-enlightenment, newly industrialized world, that had traded-in faith for reason and the institutions of old for the institutions of "new" but yet as much changed nothing changed and by 1919 Yeats was looking at a Europe in flames and ruin. It had been enough for the Irish mystic that he had been very intimately involved at that point in the Irish Literary Revival as well as the push for full independence of Ireland from the United Kingdom, but now "out of nowhere" a war of-then apocalyptic proportions had broken out and left the whole structure of the world he knew turned upside down and he and his peers would spend the next half-century in literature exploring "what-the-hell-just happened" to earth. This poem would be one of the first to ask that question.

So at the outset it seems the poem itself is opening in medias res as we find that the whole order of the world has finally broken and has been completely bent out of shape:
"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." Well, that's not good.

It is stark but descriptive and very to the point; unlike Dover Beach I feel that Yeats is sincerely disturbed and scared at what is going on around him and is not simply brooding and "angsting" all over the place all "emo-like" as Matthew Arnold does.


"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?"

Now we see one of Yeats' signature beliefs come to fore-his mysticism. I could get into the contemporary allegory this may be invoking, but I like to read the above passage the way I think Yeats intended it to be read...as a simple apocalyptic vision coming about because of world events. The whole passage, the sphinx creature, the Antichrist figure, or beast that proceeds it, that appears at the end of the poem are all inspired by the prophet Daniel, The book of Revelations (which in the greek was called Apocalypse), and Yeats' own mystical visions which are all converging in that stanza to help him describe not only the world he sees, but the world he has yet to see. Given the horrors of the next "Great War" one would have been wise to take this vision seriously.

[Mahdi Sharifi]

ویلیام باتلر ییتس تو شعر «ظهور دوم» که بعد از جنگ جهانی اول نوشته، رفته سراغ ایده ظهور مجدد عیسی تو مسیحیت و می‌گه که قرار نیست همچنین چیزی در کار باشه. در عوض اون یک هیولا رو توصیف می‌کنه که در حال متولد شده و قراره یک بار دیگه دنیا رو به هرج و مرج بکشونه.

در واقع به نظر میاد که یتس می‌خواد بگه انسان‌ها تو طول تاریخ فجایع زیادی رو رقم زدن و اخلاقیات رو مدام زیر پا گذاشتن. در نتیجه در آینده هم تاریخ تکرار میشه و قرار نیست شاهد ظهور یه منجی باشیم، بلکه احتمالا قراره شاهد آشوب‌ها و شرارت‌های بیش‌تری باشیم.

[HR Habibur Rahman]

Isn't this the situation we are facing now?

[Gregisdead121]

I do not usually log solitary poems on their own here as it often feels like cheating, but I've come to the realization that that is a stupid way to repress something you obviously feel inclined to do. Especially when you come across a work as galvanizing as this, the greatest modernist poem of all time. A chilling prophecy that would sit comfortably amongst the Bible's Revelations apocalyptic verses.

It is 2025 and yet the ceremony of innocence is still drowned. Descending into a society gripped by rising fascist sentiments, the ''The Second Coming'' speaks eloquently of our fears and in turn reminds us not to slouch

[Dave Marsland]

''Slouches towards Bethlethem to be born?''

[مريم عكاشة]

"Spiritus Mundi" الذاكرة الجمعية للعالم منذ بدأ وحتى ينتهي، لا أعلم كم من المرات قرأت تلك القصيدة، ولا أعلم كيف استطاع ييتس أن يعبر بثقة بالنسبة لرجل في القرن العشرين عن أحلام امرأة في القرن الواحد والعشرين، كيف استطاع أن ينقب بين ثنايا عقلها الواعي واللاواعي ويكتب بتلك الطريقة المؤرقة، ربما كان ذلك هو ما عبر عنه بال "Spiritus mundi".
لا أستطيع الكلام، لا أقدر على الفعل، ليس علينا سوى الوقوف عجزة أمام النهاية؛ نهاية العالم؛ بداية القصيدة.




I can not describe how many times have I read this poem before I finally decide to admit that I have read it, stopping at every word and imagining the scenes in the writer's mind while drawing the letters, made me stop each time from sharing my thoughts about it. Should I describe how Yeats captured everything I have been going through ever since I became aware enough? Should I describe my feelings of resentment and utter fear that the poem highlighted? Should I describe how his "Spiritus Mundi" truly troubles "my" sight? I'm not sure that a second coming is at hand, it's all dark, twirly and merely anarchic and there's nothing to be said or done about it.

[Tanveer Anoy]

Multiple times, I have stated that I'm not a big fan of poems- but particularly, this poem always makes me appreciate poems, especially it proves the power of the words. Also, honorable mention- 'Things Fall Apart'.

[Tavleen Kaur (Travelling Through Words)]

Read for my paper "British Literature: Early 20th Century" in Oct-Nov 2020

[Mia]

Very philosophical and the obvious christian allusions. It was a pretty simple poem, one of Yeats simplest in language and understanding.

[Daniel Joshua]

Yeats is phenomenal. One of the best despite being somewhat peculiar. I used to listen to his poetry read aloud on my way to work in the morning. He is brilliant, some of his poems are a bit strange...he believed some wonky things.
The Second Coming deserves its place as one of the most iconic poems of all times. It will seem familiar to those who haven't come across it before. This is simply because of the frequency with which other authors refer to it.
One can find many diverse and fascinating meanings it the poem.
Often of late I seem to realize the magnitude of the truth that "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".

[Claudia]

This poem is perhaps a divination of the thing that in the early 21st Century would come to pass. It meant different things of course. But one cannot look at the Middle East and Europe today and fail to see the incredible words of this poem. And the force of its signifiers.
Amazing stuff. 5 stars.

[John Yelverton]

If this poem be not blasphemous, it is as close as you can get to it, and at the very least is unflattering and has no love for Jesus Christ by comparing Christ's second coming to all the troubles that faced Ireland at the hands of Imperial British.

[Courtney]

“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”
Another difficult/nightmarish poem to be reading right now—anytime really—Yeats really knows his creepy images. But I’ve always loved that line. Describes so much of life so perfectly. . . . That may be pessimistic of me, but there it is.

[⋆.˚ Ariana ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི]

The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity. I mean, Duhh

I don’t have any special thoughts on the poem itself. Those two lines, however, spoke to me lol

[Rabbia Riaz]

Jesus Christ has seen that this world is at the end of chaos and here's "The Second Coming".
A hopeful poem even in the existantialist era?

[Emmy]

Can’t believe yeats based this on hozier’s NFWMB

[SlimySocks]

Gyre gyre gyreguregyregyregyre gyre gyre gyre gyre

[☆ Mya ☆]

…..okayokay, maybe i do like modernists work

[Nance]

Is not the Second Coming everyone’s favorite poem?

[Joey]

First of all, loving this Goodreads layout update. This work is very vivid. I've been working on it in two different classes from two different perspectives– creating my own perspective (I can see it through the eyes of the believer and the non-believer) and through the lens of the cultural context of it being written after WWI. Both interpretations are super awesome and interesting and have helped me to understand the work in a deeper way

[Flarne]

My fascination comes primarily from his vision of history as a series of interpenetrating gyres.
When you think about it, although one period of history is dominant, another, antagonistic to the present, is still present in the population.
Admittedly weakly, but still present.

In this sense, there is a constant crossing between two inseparable sea waves: a dominant one and a smaller one.

But he chose the term “gyre”, especially to characterize the active movement of each wave. Etymologically, a gyre is a whirlwind... this aspect of "turning" characteristic to the gyre represents the functioning of a historic period during the passage. It was important to find a word that negates the “static” feature between two inseparable sea waves; and that word needed to possess an attribute that negates it.

And the aquatic environment (unlike solid objects or gas) is the only one that allows an intersecting physical observation between two systems, while alllowing both to still be operational. I can't get enough of the brilliance of this metaphor. Sorry. It is so fitting.

“the falcon cannot hear the falconer” AHHHHH THIS IS SO GOOD.

The falcon is an animal that is known to catch prey.
But there, the current period of history (allegory for the falcon) does not know that it too is prey for the falconer, because two periods of history are like disproportionate gyres.. the current and overwhelming gyre sees itself as dominant, but is permanently , slowly, but permanently being overtaken by another (the falcolner)

No one sees a falcon as an animal that is known to GET caught as prey. This shows the irony with the current period of history (allegory for falcon) being caught by the unnoticed period of history (allegory for falconer).

Furthermore, the narrative progression of the poem achieved an accurate chronological expression of it when we have all the elements in mind: the poet was able to concisely capture this phenomenon of passage between two periods of history:

At the beginning, there is an omnipresence of “turning and turning in the widening gyre”
And during that stage of dominance of the soon-to-be -ucceeded era, “the falcon cannot hear the falconer”
But eventually, “things fall apart; the center cannot hold”
“Mere anarchy is loose upon the world”

“the blood-dimmed tide is loosed..” (-the scarlet color used here, is to characterize the slow 'death' of the current *gyre* by defeat/murder against the submissive *gyre*)

The intercorrelation with the second stanza is demonstrated on the fierce and fearful aura with which the poet perfumed the arrival of the new historical period. “a gaze and blank and pitiless”. The scene is put in slow motion as if to suggest the arrival of a sinister (the aforementionned murders occurring – a symbol for the undergoing demise of the initially dominant historical period).

[Andy Hickman]

The Second Coming – (3/5) About ancient Egypt? With Christological overtones?

[Judy Croome]

Given my own interest in astrology and mysticism, I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to discover Yeats. This collection of 15 of Yeats' most famous poems, including "The Second Coming" and "Easter, 1916," was a good place to start, although I need to read more on his philosophy as described in his book “A Vision” to fully benefit from reading his poetry.

In this anthology, my favourite is “The Second Coming.” A superb, haunting poem, Yeat’s description of “the widening gyres” resonated deeply. Taken in historical context, the darkness in the poem is understandable, if depressing, as there is always the hope that, no matter how far the falcon (humankind) flies from the falconer (the Divine) perhaps the centre *can* hold as the spiralling gyres of history widen and narrow, and the evolutionary cycles of mankind’s spiritual evolution wax and wane.

“Solomon and the Witch” was another poem I enjoyed in this first reading of Yeats’s work. When Sheba “cried out in a strange tongue/Not his, not mine," the potential of Love to transcend cultural differences leads her lover, the wise King Solomon, “he that knew/All sounds by bird or angel sung,” to contemplate how, when people are in love destiny (“Chance”) and free will (“Choice”) overlap and, as “lover tests lover,” there is the risk that the “bride-bed brings despair.” But the poem also offers the reader a glimpse of hope for, when “these two things…are a single light…burned in one” (when love unites differences), a “blessed moon last night/gave Sheba to her Solomon.” Finally, after the “appropriate pain” has tested the lovers, there among the debris of the struggle, “the crushed grass …and the moon wilder every minute,” silence descends and love offers a second chance. This poem cleverly reflects the difficult progression of love between a man for a woman, while hinting at the same struggle mankind must undergo to understand the mystical mysteries of a Divine Love.

Some readers who, like me, are reading Yeats for the first time may find the lack of notes in this collection frustrating. While some political notes may have helped with some references (for example, in “Sixteen Dead Men”) I found approaching the text without anyone else’s impressions influencing me refreshing.

[Jd]

I love learning new words and gyre is a word I might classify as onomatopoeia because its easy to guess it’s meaning even outside of the context of the first line. Beautiful. First two lines, I’m on board. The imagery is clear. I can see it in my head. But then things fall apart. I have to let go of the falcon using thermals to spiral up and out of earshot to a different kind of vortex that brings chaos and now only brings mere anarchy. What a line. “Mere anarchy” like it’s a box of vitamins from amazon. This is feeling very close to home for a poet who lived from 1865 to 1939. It still feels very disconnected from the first two lines unless he is referencing God as the falconer and that our distance from him is what has caused the anarchy. The lack of conviction from good people and the worst have passionate intensity which makes me think of pointless rage. It brings to mind a modern social engine/algorithm that is only trying to stir emotion and the easiest one to stir is anger. The second stanza feels very familiar to my Western religious upbringing. We are taught to look for the second coming of Christ but the term Spiritus Mundi (which I had to look up) doesn’t evoke God. In context, it sounds like a book the speaker recalls but there is no such thing as far as I can tell. In any case, he has a vision of a desert and a sphynx and that’s where I lose the thread. Because I think he’s implying that an ancient sphynx was woken up by a nightmare (perhaps the nightmare of anarchy) and incarnated as Jesus. I acknowledge I have a bias in this understanding. Since Yeats is classified as Irish literary renaissance from the 20th century I’m not sure if I should be looking for a literal message or an interpretive message. I think it was about the time period when spiritualism was gaining popularity. The imagery of the sphynx evokes wisdom and enigma. Is he trying to say that the god figure is ancient and unknowable and disconnected from humanity and it’s problems?

[Vanessa]

I had to read some of Yeats poems for an English class, one of which was The Second Coming. This poem really caught my attention because it reminded me of some bible teachings I heard growing up, specifically the book of Revelation. Yeats describes a chaos or destruction that leads to this second coming which can summaries the book of Revelations. The beginning of chapter 20 in the book of Revelation says describes an angel with a key to the abyss who captures Satan and throws him into the abyss. The Bible also describes troubled times of chaos and destruction during the last days. Yeats goes on describing his revelation he sees "a shape with lion body and the head of a man," in the book of Revelations chapter four describes four creatures one was a lion and another one had the face of a man. In the Bible the revelation leads to the destruction of the beast(Satan) and the reign of Jesus as king, however Yeats seams to go in a different direction. Yeats seams to be describing a second coming for the beast, "and what rough beast, its hour come round last."

Yeats was born in Dulin, he was a member of the Protestant Ascendency. Yeats was interested in occult, Irish legends, and astrology, the fact that he liked the unknown could explain the religious symbolism he used in his poetry. I like reading symbolist poetry specially when you know where the symbolism is coming from. My biblical background helped me and gave meaning to this poem, without my background it would have just been words on paper to me.Overall I really liked this poem.

[R. Jones]

I feel a little silly reviewing this. I mean, it's Yeats. I only started reading this because I had just recently watched Equilibrium and wanted to track down that poem that Sean Bean read before he gets shot in the face. Note: that poem is not in this collection. Also, SPOILERS.

I don't like most poetry. It's a little too high-concept and abstract for my tastes, especially when the poets are using slightly antiquated language (what is a gyre? how, exactly, is it pernned?) Yeats has excellent use of language, of course, but like most poetry, I'm really struggling to understand what exactly is being said. I find myself enjoying more the sing-song quality of a well-metered verse than actually appreciating the words themselves. I'm also fond of mining poetry for cool little turns of phrases (like "the murderous innocence of the sea" and "too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.")

So I don't really get Yeats. Two stars from me. Not that it really should dissuade anyone from picking it up and reading it... Yeats doesn't strike me as something you read unless you know you want to read some Yeats.

[رضوى]

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?

[Zohoor shinhwa]

قصيدة The Second Coming رائعة ييتس ..
القصيدة يمكن أن تقرأ بطريقتين :
- إما بشكل عام وسطحي مما يعطي المعنى حول الناتج المترتب من ترك الدين والبعد عنه حيث الجميع بدأ يدخل ضمن الزوبعه والتشتت..
- والطريقة الاخرى هي قراءة القصيدة كنص خاص بالاحتلال البريطاني لإيرلندا وهو مايبدو لي الاكثر دقه
in the first stanza :
قدم ييتس هذا البيت الرائع ليشير إلى حرية بلادة كصقر يحلق دون قيود
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
ويتابع في البيت الثاني أن بريطانيا بدأت تتفكك وأن الامل في استعادة إيرلندا ممكن
Things fall apart: the centre cannot hold ;

ويمضي ييتس في تصوير حالة الحرب والذعر والضياع إلى درجة أن البحر اصطبغ باللون الأحمر من الدماء

لتجسيد المعنى الضمني لتحرر آيرلند أختار ييتس هذا العنوان ليشير وبقوه الى عوودة آيرلند وان الوقت قادم لتحريرها

[Rebecca]

This poem was written in WW1, but the apocalyptic imagery seems like it applies to today’s era. Maybe not the rebirth portion, sadly. Yeats’s apocalyptic imagery in the first stanza is just great. Evocative, descriptive, dreamlike, making the reader feel in the middle of a whirlwind. The second stanza is great too, if less memorable. There is a sadness to this poem which echoes within my mind and makes me appreciate it greatly, and quotes from this poem make good mottoes or book titles. This poem is a classic for a reason.

[Chloe Yoon]

W. B. Yeats’s The Second Coming gets treated like some grand prophecy about the world falling apart, but it reads more like controlled panic than actual insight. The fragmented structure and chaotic imagery don’t just describe disorder, they make you feel how unstable the speaker’s mindset is. Instead of offering clarity, the poem kind of shows that in moments of crisis, even the people trying to interpret the world are just as lost.