August 22, 2011: Difference between revisions
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{{Large| | {{Center|{{Large|The Second Coming}}{{refn|This poem expresses Yeats’ idea that civilization is cyclical, and that each age, or “gyre” of history, is followed by another turn or spiral.}} <br /> | ||
By: '''[[ | By: '''[[w:W. B. Yeats|W. B. Yeats]]''' ([[w:The Second Coming (poem)|1919]]) }} | ||
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<poem> | <poem> | ||
Turning and turning in the widening gyre | Turning and turning in the widening {{H:title|A spiral or vortex.|gyre}} | ||
The falcon cannot hear the falconer; | The falcon cannot hear the falconer; | ||
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; | Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; | ||
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, | Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, | ||
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere {{ln|5}} | The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere {{ln|5}} | ||
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; | The ceremony of innocence{{refn|Ritual, in Yeats’ view, is the foundation of civilization.}} is drowned; | ||
The best lack all conviction, while the worst | The best lack all conviction, while the worst | ||
Are full of passionate intensity. | Are full of passionate intensity.{{refn|Yeats had the Russian Revolution in mind in lines 4–8, yet they resonate today, as well.}} | ||
Surely some revelation is at hand; | Surely some revelation is at hand; | ||
Surely the Second Coming is at hand. {{ln|10}} | Surely the Second Coming is at hand. {{ln|10}} | ||
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out | The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out | ||
When a vast image out of | When a vast image out of ''Spiritus Mundi''{{refn|The spirit of the universe. Yeats believed that all souls were connected through this great memory. It is also the source of inspiration for the poet.}} | ||
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand; | Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand; | ||
A shape with lion body and the head of a man, | A shape with lion body and the head of a man, | ||
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The darkness drops again but now I know | The darkness drops again but now I know | ||
That twenty centuries of stony sleep | That twenty centuries of stony sleep | ||
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, {{ln|20}} | Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,{{refn|This is the cradle of the newborn Jesus Christ.}} {{ln|20}} | ||
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, | And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, | ||
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? | Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? | ||
</poem> | </poem> | ||
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{{2011|state=expanded}} | {{2011|state=expanded}} | ||
Revision as of 08:03, 3 April 2022
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Turning and turning in the widening gyre |
notes
- ↑ This poem expresses Yeats’ idea that civilization is cyclical, and that each age, or “gyre” of history, is followed by another turn or spiral.
- ↑ Ritual, in Yeats’ view, is the foundation of civilization.
- ↑ Yeats had the Russian Revolution in mind in lines 4–8, yet they resonate today, as well.
- ↑ The spirit of the universe. Yeats believed that all souls were connected through this great memory. It is also the source of inspiration for the poet.
- ↑ This is the cradle of the newborn Jesus Christ.
