The Second Coming Name________________________

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

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?

Notes on Yeats’ symbols:

*A gyre is Yeats’ personal symbol for the conflict of man; it is the image of two interlocking tornadoes.
As the gyre expands, the falcon loses communication with the falconer, his handler. It is an image of
man no longer communicating effectively with nature. The gyre returns in the circling vultures circling
over the head of the sphinx moving across the desert.

*The sphinx is Yeats’ symbol for vexation or confusion.

*Spiritus Mundi is Yeats’ personal symbol for the earth’s soul. When he sees its vast image, he means
that in one moment the images of all life forms on earth and their spirits flash before his eyes.

*By mentioning the rocking cradle, Yeats points out the ironic fact that Christ’s birth, by the very nature
of scripture’s predictions, means that the second coming of Christ (or the end of the world) has drawn
nearer.
“The Second Coming” is one of the most noteworthy modern poems of its day. Yeats wrote about this
topic in a manner which had never been used before. His tone and his diction, both surprising
considering the subject matter, make this modern poem innovative.

Questions on “The Second Coming” by Yeats:

1. Yeats uses a speaker who has a series of visions about what the end of the world looks like. What are
these visions? Put them into your own words. ______________________________________________

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2. This poem’s subject matter isn’t innately modern. The Second Coming is a grand topic and one that
has always been traditionally used in poetry.
However, Yeats’ word choice is extremely modern. Why?_____________________________________

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What words in the poem seem modern? List three ___________________________________________.

3. Where does the poem become conversational? Offer a quote and explain. _____________________

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Why is this unusual? What is surprising about using a conversational tone for this subject? ___________

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4. Look closely at Yeats’ descriptions of the sphinx. What words in his description are surprising? Why?

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