THE POEM INTERPRETATIONS
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 Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the 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?
1920
My Interpretation:
Yeats wrote The Second Coming while Europe and much of the rest of the world was trying to recover from World War I. This was surely an important factor for him in writing the poem. Yeats saw great social troubles all around him, and remarks on a world spinning out of control.
Line 2 hints at technology progressing beyond mankind's ability to control it. The problem was evident to Yeats 80 years ago, and the problem has worsened since then. Yeats shows his concern that technology has advanced to the point where mankind can do a great deal of harm with relative ease. The world had never seen destruction of the likes of World War I, and most people were shocked at the extensive loss of human life during the war.
In the time that Yeats speaks of, the rulers of the world were caught up in imperialism and expanding circles of power to the point where they would do almost anything to accomplish their goals. The ruthless power mongers were outspoken and numerous, and there seemed to be few who dared to speak out against them in the name of peace.
At one point, I had stated here that Spiritus Mundi is a Medieval text for Christians, to inform them what they need to do to die in the grace of God. It is essentially "the art of dying well." At this point, I must offer sincere apologies. I must have been severely confused (and have a memory lapse) when I wrote that, because the text that deals with the art of dying well is in fact "Ars Moriendi". Spiritus Mundi is literally "Spirit of the World." In order to avoid making another stupid mistake, I will refrain from comment on the meaning of Spiritus Mundi for the time-being.
Nevertheless, I believe Spiritus Mundi leads Yeats to propose that perhaps the Second Coming (of Christ) is near at hand: Judgement Day . . . . the end of the world.
Spiritus Mundi brings an image of the sphinx to Yeats' mind. Yeats sees the sphinx rising up to bring forth the end of the world. The sphinx slept in a world of nightmares for 2000 years. The nightmares were caused by the turmoils of the human race (line 20). The indignant desert birds (line 17) (a.k.a. humans who foresee the Second Coming) try to stop the sphinx (the end of the world), but their task is impossible. In the end, Yeats reveals no hope for the continued existence of mankind.
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OTHERS' INTERPRETATIONS:
These comments are by R.P. Greenish: I very much enjoyed reading your comments on 'The Second Coming' by W. B. Yeats, but, although very much valid, I think that your views fail to explore the deeper meanings of the poem. Having read Yeats' 'A Vision', a book written by him about his views on the world and how time progresses, I am very much familiar with his ideas and beliefs. This poem is obviously written with these ideas in mind:
The falcon in the second line, turning and turning in the widening gyre, represents the 'gyres' or cones that Yeats refers to in his book. These govern the progression of time and the human race, and can be represented by the 28 phases of the moon. 2000 years ago was the beginning of a new cycle, Christ was born at exactly the right time to have a perfect soul, and now we reach the end of the cycle, nearing the end of the 28th phase, about to start again. Yeats inagines the rebirth of Christ as the start of the new cycle, and the revolution at hand in the rebirth of the human race. Your analysis of the poem fits in with the end of the cycle when the gyres dictate that we will behave as we do and cause what is happening in the world, i.e. - wars and destruction, and ultimately our end.
I would advise that you read this book if you are interested in Yeats, and also some of his other poetry - 'The gyres', 'Sailing to Byzantium', 'Death', 'He thinks of his past greatness when a part of the constellations of heaven'. All these poems are strongly related to the views that he describes in his book.
