What does stony sleep mean?
By referring to the reign of Christianity as “stony sleep,” Yeats implies that Christianity was glossing over or covering up some primal energy that reigned before its emergence and that this primal energy is soon going to return.
What is the meaning of Yeats poem The Second Coming?
“The Second Coming” was intended by Yeats to describe the current historical moment (the poem appeared in 1921) in terms of these gyres. Yeats believed that the world was on the threshold of an apocalyptic revelation, as history reached the end of the outer gyre (to speak roughly) and began moving along the inner gyre.
When according to WB Yeats the new civilization takes place?
In many of his poems W.B.Yeats refers to the rise and fall of civilizations. According to him the nature of civilization changes after almost every two thousand years.
Who is the rough beast in The Second Coming?
Of great significance in Yeats’ poem is the “rough beast,” apparently the Anti-Christ, who has not been born yet. And most problematic is that the rough beast is “slouch[ing] towards Bethlehem to be born.” The question is, how can such an Anti-Christian creature be slouching if it has not yet been born?
What does Widening Gyre mean?
The falcon is described as “turning” in a “widening gyre” until it can no longer “hear the falconer,” its human master. A gyre is a spiral that expands outward as it goes up. Yeats uses the image of gyres frequently in his poems to describe the motion of history toward chaos and instability.
Was WB Yeats married?
Georgiana Hyde-Leesm. 1917–1939
William Butler Yeats/Spouse
What is William Butler Yeats known for?
Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer William Butler Yeats was the preeminent writer of the Irish literary renaissance at the turn of the 20th century. In 1923 Yeats became the first Irish writer to receive a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Why does Yeats use the Sphinx?
As soon as Yeats introduces the idea of a Second Coming as salvation, he uses his most powerful symbol — the Sphinx — to offer his prediction of the future of the world and of humanity. As soon as he alludes to Christ, a “vast image” of a pagan religion appears to wander toward Bethlehem.
What does the gyre symbolize?
The Gyre. The “gyre” Yeats writes of in “The Second Coming” can be understood literally as a vortex of air so powerful that it consumes whatever is lost inside it. It should also be understood figuratively as a representation of Yeats’s concept of time. Yeats believed time to be cyclical, broken up into epochs.
