A Brief Analysis on the Symbolism of Yeats’s The Second Coming

李航

【Abstract】Yeats is considered one of the finest poets in the English language. The Second Coming is generally viewed as one of Yeatss most famous masterpieces of Modernist poetry. The most remarkable feature is the authors use of symbolism in the poetry.

【Key Words】The Second Coming； Yeats； Symbolism

The Second Coming is viewed as a prophetic poem that envisions the close of the Christian epoch and the violent birth of a new age. The poems title makes reference to the biblical reappearance of Christ， prophesied in Mathew 24 and the Revelations of St. John， which according to Christianity， will accompany the Apocalypse and divine Last Judgment. The symbolism used in the title The Second Coming shows that Christ will come to this world again one day， and it must happen after a terrible war， or catastrophe of human being.

In the first stanza， especially the first 3 lines， the author describes the decline of the western culture， which is the feature of the devil or chaotic old world. In the first line， the author uses the “gyre” as a symbol of the history. One of the most important supportive idea in Yeatss creation is that history is a cycle， but in different levels. The development of the history is enlarging itself continuously. Just like the history， the fate of human being is a cycle as well. The “gyre” is “turing and turing” means that the history is developing， following the orbit of the circle. However， great changes appear in the society.

In the second stanza， the “revelation” shows that the “second coming” is at hand. Then the author begins to have a dream， in which he describes that the world is in a dreadful mess. It is the anti-Christ that brings the chaotic world. The “Spiritus Mundi” symbolizes the spirit of the universe， which is related to human mind and peoples subconscious. The author has been greeted by a terrible image. A monster with “lion body and head of man” has been woken by a “nightmare”， and this indicates a horrible and disorder future.

As a conclusion， this poem shows that the western civilization is at the edge of collapse. And it provides us a vivid picture of the development of history and a dirge of western civilization.

References：

[1]Yeats，William Butler.“The Second Coming.”The Poems of W.B.Yeats.Ed.Richard J.Finneran.New York：Macmillan，1983.

[2]Bloom，Edward A.“Yeatss ‘Second Coming：An Experiment in Analysis，” in The University of Kansas City Review，Vol.XXI，No.2，Winter，1954.

[3]Hone，Joseph.W.B.Yeats：1865-1939.New York：The Macmillan Company，1943.

[4]Miller，J.Hills.“W.B.Yeats，” in Poets of Reality：Six Twentieth-Century Writers.Cambridge，Mass.：Harvard University Press，1965.