The Second Coming Explicatory Essay

William Butler Yeats is thought to be one of the most admired poets. “The Second Coming” is a masterpiece that leaves the reader wondering what is truly meant by the poem. The title suggests that the content is positive, relating to religion and saving of people. But at the same time, there is a sense of controversy because of the unordinary nature of the title and the way the words are related to each other.

It seems to have sarcastic and dark nature, even though the words are not apparent in this regard. The first lines start from afar “Turning and turning in the widening gyre”, supposing no escape from what is to come, and the totally consuming force that cannot be stopped (Yeats, 1996). It is something grandeur and incomprehensible by humans, as they are too small to grasp the concept and emotion.

The poem continues as a dream like state where the author seems to imagine or even see the future and the disasters to come. It is almost a display of the end of his world, as he knows it. Next lines talk about the “drowning of innocence”, and this represents the modernity where people are losing morality and ethics.

The perversion is spreading at an ever increasing rate, and people do not even notice how detrimental it has become to the society. The line “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” means that people who are kind and helping cannot find the will to continue, as they see the devastation and suffer at heart (Yeats, 1996).

This shows that there is only a small amount of people who are honorable and ethical. In contrast, those people who are evil, criminal and cruel are happy that the world is ending, conditions are worsening and good people are becoming extinct. This adds joy to their dark heart and so, they are shown to display feelings of “intensity” (Yeats, 1996).

Yeats continues by saying that “The Second Coming” is getting nearer and makes a connection to religion. It is obvious that those who believe in the “Second Coming” of Jesus Christ will be happy and will expect things to get worse before getting better. But in reality, Yeats is talking about the coming of evil, saying that religion will not help.

He makes a link to the desert and “The Sphinx” who stares at the world and, has no feeling in the eyes. The ending confirms that the dark times are coming, and a reference is made to the time passing, and the beast being unmoved by the evil that was and is going on. In such an atmosphere, a part of the psyche is traumatized, but the author is forced to resort to this sort of activity in order to predict and warn people (Smith, 1990).

The major theme of the poem is that appearances are deceiving and those people who will not learn from the past and the pain will bring darkness. The predictions and facts are not straight forward and leave a lot to the imagination. From one point of view it is a good technique because it does not draw concrete lines for the reader but lets the individual imagine the scene and setting. It is also richer because everyone will create their own picture and this will lead to a more personal relationship towards the poem.

References

Smith, S. (1990). W.B. Yeats: A Critical Introduction. Lanham, MD. Rowman & Littlefield.

Yeats, W. (1996). THE SECOND COMING. Retrieved from http://www.potw.org/archive/potw351.html