Well-Educated Mind Poetry Reading List discussion

The Second Coming is a powerful poem.

Clearly this is about a second coming, but I do not believe the poet is talking about Jesus' second coming. If anything, this poem is about a disillusion or disappointment about Christianity in general.

The poem was written post WWI, and one can imagine the shock and horror the War left in its wake -- to see what man and war are capable of. Yeats argues that humanity or morality has lost -- maybe even Christian morality is an illusion. Good men are too complacent to do anything to stop evil, and the wicked are in their heyday!

To Yeats, Jesus' return is a farce -- a lie. (OK, maybe I'm stretching his argument.) But I sense that Yeats is in denial, and instead he sees something sinister coming in His place. A beast!

Well, I hear ya, Yeats! I do! And I don't blame you. BUT WAIT! Everything you witnessed and experienced is TRUE. War is violent and destructive. And the wicked are in their heyday. BUT...that is all they will have because this is their "best life NOW!" After death, they will have no more time or power to practice evil.

And Christians or the good men you talk of were and are guilty of complacency, but not all. We do not often hear the stories of courage and valor. The world does not care about good or moral people. The world loves destruction and death.

Yes, a Beast is coming soon. He will come and physically set up his little empire in the world for a short time, and he will convince the wicked into worshiping him. Then Jesus will return to put an end to all the chaos, violence, hatred, and immorality, and evil will never reign again on the earth.

None of it is a lie, and everything is happening exactly as expected. All of this evil is the result of sin in the human heart. It is getting worse and worse. But Jesus is coming, and God knows who belongs to Him. He will return to make things right. You just need to persevere and believe.