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Elements of symbolism in the second coming of William Yeats
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In the first stanza of William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming”, the speaker paints a picture of chaos and frightening sight. The first image we read is the gyre. “Turning and turning in the widening gyre” (1), Tracy Caldwell says “the gyre refers to Yeats’ personal understanding of cyclical events in history explained in his work, ‘A Vision’, which details the theory of metaphysics and history he claimed to have received from the spirit world” (2). In the second line, the speaker states that order is loose that “the falcon cannot hear the falconer” (2). “The circular motion of the falcon not only refers to the gyre explained above, but also may refer to the loss of gravitational center, exerting a powerful force of integration kept in place only if the falcon would (or could) keep its normal orbit around the falconer” (Caldwell 2). Bloom says “and the falcon represents his mastery of nature, now in the act of falling apart” (2). “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” (4). Everything is out of control. “The ceremony of innocence is drowned/the best lack all conviction, while ...
In the poem,”First they Came for,” by Martin Niemoller, the author used several literary elements to support the text structure, which was plot and conflict. Similarly, in the short story, ”Terrible Things: Allegory of the Holocaust,” by Eve Bunting, the author also used several literary elements to support the text structure which was plot and conflict. Not only do these texts share the same text structure, they also share a common theme of standing up against injustice even if you are not affected by it. Another way that these texts are similar is the topic of the content, which is the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the mass killing of people who were Jewish, Homosexual, disabled or Gypsie by the Nazis, throughout Europe during the 1930-40
The diction surrounding this alteration enhances the change in attitude from self-loath to outer-disgust, such as in lines 8 through 13, which read, “The sky/ was dramatic with great straggling V’s/ of geese streaming south, mare’s tails above them./ Their trumpeting made us look up and around./ The course sloped into salt marshes,/ and this seemed to cause the abundance of birds.” No longer does he use nature as symbolism of himself; instead he spills blame upon it and deters it from himself. The diction in the lines detailing the new birds he witnesses places nature once more outside of his correlation, as lines 14 through 18 read, “As if out of the Bible/ or science fiction,/ a cloud appeared, a cloud of dots/ like iron filings, which a magnet/ underneath the paper
When You are Old, by William Butler Yeats, represents and elderly woman reminiscing of her younger days. A past lover whispers to her as she looks through a photo album. Basically, Yeats is showing that as the woman gets older, she is alone, but she does not have to be lonely. She will always have her memories for companionship.
Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" portrays the past power of authority symbolized by the once great world power of Egypt. William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming" portrays the past power religion once had over the world, gradually lost ever since the end of Shelley's era of Romanticism. "Ozymandias" was written in a time when human rule coupled with religious guidance, but was slowly easing away from that old tradition as they entered the highly progressive era of the Victorians. In his poem, Shelley was comparing the formally powerful Egyptian pharaoh's "antique" and prideful form of rule with the unsuccessful future the "traveller" met in the desert with the ruins of the king's "shattered visage" (Longman, Shelley, p. 1710, l. 1 & 4). In a sense, Shelley was also saying that human rulership was just as easily able to fail as the once great and powerful world rule of Egypt once did, for ages. Yeats also is alluding to this idea, but imposing his view on another type of rule once great for hundreds of years of its rulership, that of Christianity or religion in general. In "The Second Coming" he envisions the "falcon" of humanity drifting away and ignoring "the falconer," Christian religions (Longman, Yeats, p. 2329, l. 2). "The falcon cannot hear the falconer;/ Things fall apart" says Yeats, depicting how human reliance on religion has become cold and disinterested in its lead anymore due to human progress of science, thus their loss of reliance and trustworthiness of religion's claims.
The Virgin and the Whore: An Analysis of Keats’s Madeline in “The Eve of Saint Agnes”
"The blood-dimmed tied is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned". As many currently see our society today, Yeats was in fear of what the future had in store, and felt it necessary to warn society of their abominable behavior. All of the good in the society has been taken over and overwhelmed by the horrible actions. No longer do ceremonies, or acts of kindness, take place, which Yeats believes is a direct effect of the loss of youth and innocence. "That twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle". This quote from "The Second Coming" informs the society that if they do not begin to correct their transgressions against one another as a whole they will awake the anti-Christ. The anti-Christ will come to claim his Jesus and correct the predicament that they have gotten themselves in to.
William Yeats is deliberated to be among the best bards in the 20th era. He was an Anglo-Irish protestant, the group that had control over the every life aspect of Ireland for almost the whole of the seventeenth era. Associates of this group deliberated themselves to be the English menfolk but sired in Ireland. However, Yeats was a loyal affirmer of his Irish ethnicity, and in all his deeds, he had to respect it. Even after living in America for almost fourteen years, he still had a home back in Ireland, and most of his poems maintained an Irish culture, legends and heroes. Therefore, Yeats gained a significant praise for writing some of the most exemplary poetry in modern history
William Butler Yeats One of Ireland's finest writers, William Butler Yeats served a long apprenticeship in the arts before his genius was fully developed. He did some of his greatest work after he was fifty. Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865. His father was a lawyer-turned-Irish painter. In 1867 the family followed him to London and settled in Bedford Park.
In “The Second Coming”, William Butler Yeats uses a lot of tones and shifts to describe his interpretation on the world. Later on in this story it will open up a lot of wondering minds, the reader will understand how the world is seen in some eyes. Getting to understand what the poet was really trying to get to at the end of his poem will be challenging. It will be show that I paraphrased my version of his poem and I will also break down the details of his life story.
William Butler Yeats was born on June thirteenth, eighteen sixty-five, at ten-forty pm, in Sandymount, Dublin (Foster, 13). He grew up lanky, untidy, slightly myopic, and extremely thin. He had black hair, high cheek bones, olive skin, and slanting eyes (Foster, 34). It was presumed he was Tubercular. As a child he was ridiculed, mainly because of his Irish heritage (Foster, 16). He accomplished many things in his life time.
One of the many coinciding concepts between the two is the daunted apprehension of both the poem and the book. In Things Fall Apart it seems like whenever the main character, Okonkwo, gains hope things happen to fall apart . The contents of The Second Coming told of a chaotic world and a base that could not hold because of it’s own inner conflicts. In Addition to the synonymous feeling both the book and the poem give, they both expose a great shift from and old era to a new era. The Second Coming reveals an apocolypse. Yeats shows this change by describing the conversions our world, as a global community, made throughout history. Key lines that refer to these changes in time are “Turning and Turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer”. These lines refer to the constant adjustments we have to make and also the fact that we cannot go back in time . Chinua Achebe also reveals a major shift by describing Umuofa as it was in the beginning. In describing Umuofa as it was originally he makes it easier to catch sight of the major changes throughout the story.
Drenched in a dark pessimism, and nightmarish imagery, Yeat’s intent with “The Second Coming” from a text-based perspective, is a prophetic warning to post-WWI Europe. As the narrator is personal - despite his minimal use of first person - and orates alike a prophet who’s illustrating a desolate vision he’s witnessing in real-time. The first stanza is the portrayal of his vision. A collapsing post-WWI society, sitting on and than exceeding the threshold of crisis, represented by symbolic lines such as: “the blood-dimmed tide is loosed.” Which refers to society exceeding the aforesaid threshold of crisis, and the resulting violence. The poem also highlights mans creeping separation from Christian ideologies, though with ambiguity. As the line
Yeats' poetry is very dramatic because he usually creates dramatic contrasts within his poems and because his tone changes regularly. When he wasn't in conflict with the world around him he was in conflict with himself. He was never satisfied with modern Ireland, even when he was younger. As he grew older, his dissatisfaction became even greater.
Having a view of something that is different from what is traditional can often be frowned upon. During the Romantic period, the writers were swaying away from what was considered normal writing at that time. The church was a big influence on everyone during the Renaissance and if any one so much as “stepped out of line” the church made sure they were punished. Going against them was seen as going against God. A man named William Butler Yeats created a unique philosophical system woven from his own insights and the ideas of many thinkers. Yeats expressed himself using symbols which stand for something beyond itself, give rise to a number of associations, and intensifies feelings and adds complexity to meaning by concentrating these associations together. Using vivid language and rich symbols to make his argument, Yeats relies on the emotional impact of specific word choices and symbolic images to convey meaning and “convince” his readers. William Butler Yeats shows in “The Second Coming” and “Sailing to Byzantium” that the elements, gyres, and idea of a perfect place all add up to h...
"No Second Troy" expresses Yeats' most direct vision of Maud Gonne, the headstrong Irish nationalist he loved unrequitedly throughout his life. The poem deals with Yeats’ disenchantment with the modern age: blind to true beauty, unheroic, and unworthy of Maud Gonne's ancient nobility and heroism. The "ignorant men," without "courage equal to desire," personify Yeats’ assignment of blame for his failed attempts at obtaining Maud Gonne's love. The poet's vision of his beloved as Helen of Troy externalizes his blame by exposing the modern age's lack of courage and inability to temper Maud Gonne's headstrong heroism and timeless beauty.