Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Second Coming



I read the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. This poem gave me the strongest reaction compared to the other poems I read just because of the eerie imagery the words put in my mind. The poem in my mind created a scene of chaos with this dark supernatural beast descending on the world. For example in the first line “Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer” With this line I imagine a tornado forming, swirling in circles and sucking in the air and clouds around it. This vortex being described must be deafening.  The attention of all the people and animals must be on this unexplained event for even a falcon is prevented from hearing its owner. 

Maybe the purpose of this poem is to say that this surprise could happen at any time. An event like this was obviously expected because the poem reads “Surely some revelation is at hand; surely the Second Coming is at hand.” What else could it be? This is the only explanation. The author sounds like he is trying to argue out loud with himself. Later on he becomes more convinced that this event is here to stay because the poem says “The darkness drops again but now I know.” The second to last line says “and what rough beast, its hour come round at last”.  It came at last. The author must have known that this was going to happen because at first he was surprised but later it feels like he has known this was about to happen. Now the last line reads “Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?” This means that this incident is igniting a big change and it is only just started with this beast because the beast has not even been born yet.  

Link to help with understanding and explicating poetry.

2 comments:

  1. Good Job! When I first read this poem I did not make the connection to the second coming. You make understanding this claim very simple with the usage of citing lines from the poem. The line about the Falcon and the Falconer after re-reading the poem that is one of the most important lines in the poem; but until you pointed it out I never would have known. Great job this is a good start for the writing!

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  2. Good Job! I kind of felt that same feeling when I read that poem! It is beautiful, though and the picture is incredible. Reading your post it was like I was there in the middle of the tornado!

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