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WB Yeats The Second Coming

The critical analysis of W. B. Yeats's poem 'The Second Coming' highlights its apocalyptic imagery, existential themes, and historical context following World War I. The poem reflects a world in chaos, characterized by a loss of meaning and moral order, while also embodying modernist traits such as fragmentation and ambiguity. Yeats's vision captures the dread and uncertainty of a transformative era, resonating with moments of historical crisis.

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32 views3 pages

WB Yeats The Second Coming

The critical analysis of W. B. Yeats's poem 'The Second Coming' highlights its apocalyptic imagery, existential themes, and historical context following World War I. The poem reflects a world in chaos, characterized by a loss of meaning and moral order, while also embodying modernist traits such as fragmentation and ambiguity. Yeats's vision captures the dread and uncertainty of a transformative era, resonating with moments of historical crisis.

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munyaoa52
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aspects:

- Practical criticism (language, imagery, tone, structure, form)


- Existentialism
- Historical context
- Literary context

Critical Analysis of The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats

1. Practical Criticism

Language and Imagery:

Yeats uses apocalyptic imagery and symbolism to evoke a world in chaos. Phrases like “Things
fall apart; the centre cannot hold” and “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world” suggest the
breakdown of social and moral order. The language is dense, with biblical and mythical
allusions that intensify the poem’s prophetic tone.

The “rough beast” in the final lines is a terrifying symbol, emerging from the desert as a
grotesque anti-Christ figure, emphasizing the poem’s vision of a new, terrifying era.

Tone and Mood:

The tone is dark, ominous, and prophetic. There is a mood of dread and foreboding, as though
the poem is announcing the end of the known world. The speaker appears both awestruck and
horrified by what he sees unfolding—a chaos that cannot be controlled or understood.

Structure and Form:

The poem is composed of two stanzas: the first presents the world in collapse; the second
offers a cryptic vision of what is to come. The free verse form lacks a regular meter or rhyme
scheme, reinforcing the theme of disorder. However, Yeats employs elevated diction and
rhythmic variation that give the poem a powerful, incantatory feel.

Critic Helen Vendler argues that Yeats's language here "transforms historical despair into
visionary myth" (Vendler 76), blending poetic form with philosophical horror.

2. Existentialism
Although Yeats predates the height of 20th-century existentialism, The Second Coming* shares
many existential themes:

- Crisis of Meaning: The poem reflects a world where old structures—political, religious, social—
have collapsed. This aligns with existential concerns about the loss of meaning in a post-war
world.

- Anxiety and Dread: The speaker faces the future with existential dread, confronting a future
that seems unknowable and threatening. Much like Sartre’s idea of radical freedom and
uncertainty, the world Yeats portrays lacks a moral compass or divine plan.

- The Individual vs. History: Existentialist thinkers like Camus emphasized the absurdity of trying
to find logic in a chaotic world. Similarly, Yeats suggests that no guiding force can prevent the
descent into darkness: “Surely some revelation is at hand.”

- Myth and Creation: The “rough beast” suggests the birth of a new order—perhaps one created
by human actions, not divine will. Existentialism often explores how humans create their own
meaning or destiny in the absence of absolute truths.

3. Historical Context

Yeats wrote The Second Coming in 1919, immediately after World War I —a period marked by
political upheaval, mass death, and disillusionment with modern civilization.

- World War I Impact: The violence and destruction of the war shattered the optimism of the
early 20th century. The war's scale and brutality led many intellectuals and artists to question
the foundations of Western society.

- Irish Political Turmoil: Yeats, an Irish nationalist and senator, was deeply affected by the
political violence in Ireland. The Easter Rising (1916) and subsequent Irish War of
Independence were fresh in his memory. The line “The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity” may refer to this moral inversion, where idealism is crushed and
extremism rises.

- Post-war Collapse: Yeats believed history moved in gyres (spiraling cycles). He felt that the
2,000-year Christian era was ending and a new, darker era was beginning. The poem’s
apocalyptic tone reflects this cyclical philosophy.

4. Literary Context
Yeats is a key figure in Modernist poetry, and The Second Coming reflects several modernist
traits:

- Allusion and Ambiguity: The poem is filled with biblical, mythological, and occult references,
typical of modernist poetry that demands interpretation and resists clarity.

- Fragmentation: The poem captures the modernist anxiety over the fragmentation of truth and
order. The center of civilization—whether moral, political, or spiritual—is disintegrating.

- Symbolism and Myth: Yeats drew heavily on his personal mythology, including his mystical
theories from A Vision. The “gyres” are part of this system, representing historical cycles that
repeat and evolve.

T. S. Eliot, a contemporary modernist, wrote similarly about cultural decay in The Waste Land,
but where Eliot mourns, Yeats prophesies. As Richard Ellmann notes, Yeats was “a poet of
history and myth, but also of psychological terror” (Ellmann 138).

Conclusion

The Second Coming is a dark, prophetic poem that captures the existential and historical
anxiety of the early 20th century. Through its powerful imagery, chaotic structure, and
apocalyptic tone, Yeats presents a world on the brink of transformation—but not rebirth. His
vision is one of dread and uncertainty, echoing existential fears and modernist fragmentation.
The poem’s cultural impact endures because it speaks to moments of historical crisis when the
old world dies but nothing yet is born to replace it.

Works Cited

- Ellmann, Richard. Yeats: The Man and the Masks Macmillan, 1948.
- Vendler, Helen. Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and Lyric Form . Harvard UP, 2007.
- Yeats, W. B. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats . Wordsworth Editions, 1994.

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