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
First posted in the Dial November 1920.
with the following alternative lines.
line 13:- Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
line 17:- Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
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Comments
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The meaning of the poem
It is the poet's wish that the Second Coming is at hand. Because of the turmoil and the conflicts in Ireland he is deeply affected. His take on the politics of the day is one of chaos and anarchy. That is why he thinks that just like Christ promised may be, just may be God would come again to grace humanity. This idea that God would come down to earth is one of the most crucial ideas in Hinduism and Yeats was influenced greatly by the mystic east. In the Bhagawad Gita, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna the warrior-prince about how God will take on incarnations to protect the Good and destroy the evil. But the last part of the poem is intriguing - Yeats appears to have lost faith in mankind so far as to deny that the Second Coming is that of a Christ-like God full of sweetness and light. That a God who is more powerful and more malevolent than benign is ready to be born. Somehow man's nature has borrowed more of the beast and how prescient his vision is. Can you imagine all horrors of the holocast, the Rwanda tragedy, the scourge of aids.The words are so prophetic and irony is that the beast is 'slouches towards Bethlehem'
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yeats best poem ever
I remember reading it nearly 30 years ago when I was in college doing my graduate paper on Yeats. It still resonates with the same appeal and somehow seems more relevant today than ever before.When you think of the war in Iraq, the ongoing conflict in Palestine, the battles in Afghanistan and everywhere the anxiety emanating from scenes flickering on the TV sets in living rooms. This is where poetry has the ability to envision human triumph and failure, pinnacles of achievement and the depths of depravity all at once. -
most poignant line:
"That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,.."
wow...
Paul
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From guest Lauren (contact)
I am a home schooled freshman. I had to write a complete, college level, literary analysis on this poem. First off, i think that this poem is actually about the second coming of Jesus Christ. It talks about Sphinx's, and its followers. I think that the Sphinx's is Jesus. He describes it as "A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun." And normally, spiritual masters(like Jesus) are known to gaze blankly when they spread the message to their people. And then his followers are described as birds. I think that he choose birds because birds swarm. And these birds were swarming around their leader. I think that the poem misleads people. The second coming is going to be a wonderful thing, as long as you have Christ. As a Christian, when I read the title, I was excited to see what Yeats had to say about the second coming, but this poem is not the beautiful side of the second coming. It shows the side of the second coming that is only for those who reject Christ. This poem strengthens my thoughts on being a Christian. I am glad that I have security. I will not have to suffer. This poem may be dark, and ugly, but it is also a good message. -
On Yeats
From guest Melanie Simms (contact)
We discussed this poem today in Lit. Class. Its powerfully prophetic, or at least unprecedented in its bravery and foresight. I believe the poem is about cycles --- that history repeats itself -- paralleling that with the idea that Christianity will die as soon as modern sciences evolve and we begin a new search for "the second-coming" ie an era of realization and insight into the soul which will encompass and serve the needs of a wider audience... perhaps if we can come up with a unifying religion, we can put an end to many religious wars and disputes and find a new "peace on earth" but until then we have to face a terrible imbalance---religion for all its unanswered questions and diverse expressions are key to conformity and social cohesion... hence one cannot speed up the cycles. Kudos to Yeats for his investigation into these thoughts. -
On Yeats
From guest Melanie Simms (contact)
We just discussed this poem today in Lit. Class- powerfully prophetic! I think its about cycles-- that history repeats as well as the idea that Christianity will die as modern sciences evolve and that we will search for a new "second coming" ie a new era of realization and insight into the soul which will encompass and serve the needs of a wider audience...if we can come up with a unifying religion, we can put an end to many religious wars/disputes... but that until then we have to face a terrible imbalance -- religion for all its unanswered questions, has been key to conformity and social cohesion... hence one that cannot faster than the cylces of mankind-- hopefully we will not get lost in our selfishness and self-serving ideals. -
On Philosophy
From guest Nathan Brazell (contact)
As someone had stated, Yeats believed in the repetition of history. This philosophy was first introduced by Hegel, who coined the term Spiritus Mundi (or Spirit of the World). Hegel definetly influenced Yeats philosophical views. -
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creepy, prescient
From guest laster (contact)
One of my favorites of Yeats, along with 'Sailing to Byzantium' and 'Among School Children', it strikes of as eerily prescient of the 20th century, a particularly blood-soaked one. Of course, he was involved in the occult, and his wife was a full-trance medium, so he knows, when he speaks of the uncanny, wherof he speaks. He had a thoery that history moved in cycles, and this poem fits in with that. -
excellent
very good -
Oh dear.
Do some people really read this masterpiece and think, Yes, George Bush is a numskull? My God. What blindness, what deafness, what slavery. -
Outstanding!
I quote lines 3-8 all too frequently these days. We are so like frogs in a kettle being brought to a slow boil: a frog dropped into hot water will frantically attempt escape but the frog in the kettle's initially cold water only notices the slow rate of change in temperature and placidly awates his fate unaware. -
Powerfully Prophetic
I was introduced to this poem in College, in Film Studies, and was told to generate ideas from the film, "A Night of the Hunter" and this. The film is a powerful drama starring a young Robert Mitchum as an evil preacher with "HATE" and "LOVE" tattooed on the knuckles of his hands. He is after a cache of gold or money that is stashed in a little, one church hamlet. He is an abusive, ex-con, step father to a little boy and his younger sister.
I was listening to a lot of punk then, especially The Clash, and remember how I thought this related to two of their songs, "Armageddon Times" and "Death or Glory." It was a period when I began making historical connections between certain timeless poets, (like Yeats), cinematographers, and musicians in a healthy, harmonious way; they were a vehicle of enlightenment-- a voice for the people who had no voice. The three voices here, with Yeats being the heart of the moral argument, is proven as needed by the people, even providing an alarm, even moral compass, whether one is religious or not, as Yeats was not. I remember that avarice and false preaching were my central themes, and how Reaganomics, and what George Prescott Bush, who wound up being the Vice President (the father of the numbskull who is President now), called Reagan's economic plan as "voodoo economics." Yeats would've went wild!
That was twenty years ago, and I think this poem is as strong and relevant in today's immoral political climate with proof being in the war in Iraq (no W.M.D.s), Hurricane Katrina (and how people were neglected by their own government), and the sickening disregard for the environment, i.e., global warming, as well as epidemics and the various health threats to people all over the world, especially those poor and uneducated in third world countries.
If Yeats were alive today, and wrote "the worst/ are full of passionate intensity," it would be powerfully prophetic. The times we live in with Bush et. al. are unstable with evil wars, immoral politicos (politic-ho's) and highly unethical corporate "pirates" (who fall under the guise of corporate lawyers and judges), genocide in Africa (as well as other Eastern Eurpoean countries in the last decade), molestation charges against a multitude of priests and deacons (that have been swept under the "burning-bush carpets of so many churches")! Third world countries are now capable of nuclear proliferation. It's wherever one wants to begin as there's a wealth of information to prove the argument that "mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." Just listen to the Bushes, and read between the "lines." -
I'm just throwing this out....Perhaps Jesus was the beast that put an end to paganism, hence the sphinx stood for 20 centuries before Christ. I don't know if Yeats was a freemason or not but the poem is sprinkled with that kind of doublespeak. Falconers, sphinx, sand, ceremony of innocence...
The sphinx is creeping slowly across the sand to exact its revenge on Jesus, it is the Second Coming of Paganism(the rough beast), not Jesus. Maybe the falconer and falcon reference is more closely related to taking one's eye off the ball, christianity will only last until the falcon returns. -
The title of this poem is ironic and symbolic. It is ironic because the persona thinks that the salvation will com from Bethlehem . This is when God manifest himself in the form of a human being.However what happens is the opositte.Instead of the cming of the salvation the one who comes is the rough beast.The title is also a symbol. It is a symbol of the death of Jesus Christ.
The main idea of the poem is the declined cicilization. W B Yeats is full of frustration. This is clear when he uses many symbols. For example, THE FALCON CAN NOT HEAR THE FALCONER=the world is out of joint .The falcon is the man but the falconer is Jesus. It alao means that there is not connection among people.Finally,it means that there is no connection between people in this century. -
This is a truly gorgeous poem and another excellant example of Yeats using his bird imagery to great effect.
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The greatest technique of this poem in my opinion is not that of imagery or prophecy or external references but of the ambiguity of the poem. It creates an uncertiantity of what will happen, and this is what we all fear most is not knowing or understanding what will happen at the end. This poem has a variety of connotations and just like our times it reveals a number of problems and changes facing the world around us, after all Yeats believed a new cycle of history will begin after a series of inter-connecting events.
In the first stanza the speaker reveals the troubles of the world at present but the second stanza reveals a vision. Note that it is a vision, so this vision is not clear cut and precise.
For Yeats this may have meant an end to not only Christianity but the conservative views and opions of the world in which he himself believed in. A change in the social justice of the world perhaps.
Maybe "A terrible beauty" will be born? -
The poem is less concerned with christ's second coming and his rebirth and more concerned with the death of christ and the christian ideal. It is worth noting that prior to wiritng this poem Yeats had become very interested in the ideas of Nietzche and the image of the 'spiritus mundi'is evocative of the Nietzchean ideal of the 'ubermensch' or superman. The poem essentially says that out of the confusion and anarchy of a society that has attained its apotheosis a new moral order will form around the ideas of a new anti-christian existential messiah, possibly himself. To really understand this poem one must grasp Yeats' own esoteric theory of 'Gyres' which are touched upon briefly in this poem. To Yeats a Gyre was a cyclical cosmic force which governed all events (drawn from his interest in Hinduism) and drew everything into a cycle of apocalypse and rebirth. To Yeats society is no exception and the poem relates his own belief that christian society is at its apocalypse and will be replaced.
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hardly, you could'nt of got it more wrong, mostly all perhaps excluding andrew missed the entire point of yeats's writing, to understand the poem you have to understand when it was written, yeats being a politician in the 1920's in ireland (hint: Irish revolution), this represents the lower over higher bases of society, england over ireland, lets not forget the ending of WW1 where England sent Irish soldiers to fight in a war they didn't understand.
You also have to understand that yeats has his own ideas and opinions on the origins of the earth and time, yeats believed that the world and time was based on significant events, the first being the birth of christ, yeats believed the 2nd coming would be chaos (but not the end of the world), he believed the new coming would be based on what was happenning in its era.. like wars, bloodshed, etc.. means a destructive coming.
You really must understand how he sees time and future to understand his writings, I recommend reading his book, his poetry will work in retrospect when you do. like when he uses the gyres, they represent different eras, while one is near ending another begins, the one that begins will determine the future era, so whether the current era is good or evil will decide on what the new gyre will represent.
One thing i have to disagree to andrew about is the use of "the new god", the use of the sphinx is all symbolism, yeats knew that the new era wouldn't be hosted by a new god, but by the world super powers. He uses the "falcon cannot hear the falconer" to represent people moving away from their roots, (example: christians not maintaining their complete beliefs, 1000 years ago we treasured the commandments over anything else, as today we consider them "guidelines", as the "falcon moves away from the falconer", people representing the falcon, while beliefs represent the falconer).
It would be lot easier to explain if this website maintained the appropriate stanza's, but never the less.
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Also, on a side note directed at Jaylynn, if your conclusion is "slightly calming" then you obviously dont understand the poem at all, and nothing in the poem nor any of yeats works predict or consider the end of the world, yeats was a delephasist meaning he didnt believe in the apocalypse, so why would he predict it. -
The best poem in the world
OMGoodness. This is my absolutely favourite poem in the whole world and has been for years..
Whoever posted this,,, Thank you thank you thank you.
God bless you,
Absinthe -
I won't lie and say I looked at it from a historical lierary perspective (i didn't even read the authors name before I started reading) but I have re-read it several times before posting this. I think first and foremost it is an incredible piece of poetry. Though I have never been able to write in it's style it is the style that captured my heart in 10th grade English years ago.
That said the imagery and message I get from reading this is about the second coming. However it's like a dark second coming. where all of us who believe in god and believe that we shall be saved sit waiting for the great day of light and hope when we will be reborn. And that day arrives but he who has come is not our savior.
Its the end of the world as we know it. All the believers lack belief and all the non believers stare at the sky in wonder.
It's a very passionate and deep felt piece. It's images blatant but slightly calming.
~JayLynn
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i dont get it i mean the poem is good and all but i dont gets it i like it very much ithink its a very good write but i still dont get it what does it mean
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at laSt,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
oh i understand now!!!! good job woohoo i'm so smart!! -
From York notes on selected poems W.B.Yeats.
Now one of the most quoted of Yeat's poems (especially lines 3-8), it expresses his sense of horror at what might happen to our civilisation. Here he uses his symbol of the gyres to great effect: When a civilisation has eached its fullest achevement (represented by the circle) an annunciation occurs, the arrivel of a new god, at the point in the middle of the circle, the beginning of the reversal of all that has been acheved (which is symbolised by the circles expantion). To acheve horror he uses Christian imagery: the second coming is not, however, that which Christians might expect, but the antithesis of all that has succeeded, been built upon the birth of Christ in Bethlehem, his life and death.
Andrew -
The poem is about the second coming of the world I think, it means to say we've been asleep for 20 centuries and now it's time for something to happen to wake us up, like Jesus did so long ago. Stephen King quoted it in his movie/book, The Stand, about the killer flu virus that killed off the entire US (maybe the world, I don't know I've only seen the movie). The US general quotes it, when he knows the virus can no longer be contained and the end is here. Innocence is lost, no one can be sparred by any grace of God, similar to the big flood with Noah. The 2nd coming of a messiah that will lead the world out of its trouble like Jeusus. Or on the contrary, the second coming of a "beast" maybe, that only intends to do harm. To release something horrible on the world, like that killer flu virus. So that's what I think the poem is about.
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the last line "slouches towards Bethlehem to be born" has great impact. It doesn't come from Bethlehem but comes to Bethlehem. I always found that rather intresting.
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class of best ever poem
The poem for me evokes images of industries or economies or societies that no longer know where their center is.
For me the poem starts with anarchy and ends with destruction of innocence.
Basically all is lost.
The allusion to the second coming is more along the lines that "Christ was born" and "Christ will return".
Vengeance is due to all. -
interesting read
I'm also using this poem for a project, thoooough not for any of my classes. It makes a good study, and it is interesting how Chinua Achebe used " Things Fall Apart" from this poem as the title for his book. -
don't touch it!
actually some think that the bethlehem referred to would be the asylum now known as Bedlam but then as St. Mary of Bethlehem also the spiraling bird was an allusion to his idea of time which is hard to explain but boils down to time is a spiral and itll reset itself -
It is about Christ's 2nd coming and also about Armageddon. Yeats was writing from the perspective of a world gone mad what with WWI and the influenza pandemic that immediately followed. An entire generation was decimated in Britain, France, and Germany. Plus the Irish question was still unsolved and leading to new rounds of violence. Yeats sees the beast of the Apocalypse coming forth from the sands "[slouching] towards Bethlehem." (Great image!) This is widely interpreted as the Armageddon arising from the 3rd world. Chinua Achebe was so offended by this notion he wrote "Things Fall Apart" as a direct response to Yeats' poem. In it, Achebe makes clear that the Europeans have already destroyed Africa, and it's pretty hypocritical of Yeats to imply that the 3rd world will be the source of the Apocalypse. I guess that heated a response shows that Yeats at least wrote a poem that strikes a chord.
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This was wonderful. I am researchin this poem for my English class, and the comment at the bottom says that it is about a major war that is coming, but not about the second coming of Christ. If anyone know what this poem is about please put it up in the comment box. It would really help me in this project.Thanks, LW
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