Perhaps one of Yeats’ most well-known poems, “The Second Coming” is full of potent and concrete images which help paint a powerful picture of Yeats’ perspective on civilization. Yeats’ perspective on civilization as portrayed in the poem depends on a great deal of religious imagery – some of which could be called Biblical – and reflect both Yeats’ own spiritual leanings and his observations of the growing secularism of society and the dangers of civilization. In particular, the last lines of this poem reflect these senses. As a whole the poem reflect Yeats’ sense of how society was changing and what the outcome might be.
The idea that society was changing is not surprising. Society may appear rather stable on the surface, but social conventions, beliefs, and practices are always in flux. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as change can promote growth and improvement, the changes occurring during Yeats’ time clearly seemed negative to him. He seemed to think that society was on the brink of anarchy. He writes in the poem, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Whatever values or elements might have been holding society together seemed to be losing their power, as far as Yeats was concerned.
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"“The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats".
As a result of things coming apart, Yeats writes, “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” But it’s not just about social disorder; there is an element of violence clearly rising, as “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned.” Image the level of violence that might result in a “blood-dimmed tide” large enough to drown the innocent! This is a powerful image that reflects the idea that society is coming apart. But this also echoes a religious image. In the Christian tradition, persons who desire to achieve salvation must be baptized, a ritual which is symbolic of being “washed in the blood” of Christ. The idea of a “blood-dimmed tide” which drowns “the ceremony of innocence,” which could be interpreted as baptism, is a terrifying idea which suggests the perversion of traditional religious views.
These elements begin to suggest that end times are coming – society is becoming so anarchy-ridden and destructive and sick, the only reason this might be happening is that the world is ending. In the Christian tradition, such levels of horror and violence herald Armageddon and the second coming of Christ. Yeats even writes, “Surely some revelation is at hand; / Surely the Second Coming is at hand.” The title of the poem seems to appeal to that idea, but as Yeats continues to assess the state of society, it becomes clear that the coming of a savior who would save society and restore order is not what Yeats thinks will happen.
In fact, what Yeats envisioned happening was something much different than the second coming of Christ. In his vision, it is not Jesus Christ returning to be born and bring order and goodness back to the world. It is something entirely different: it is the Egyptian sphinx which Yeats describes coming to life and seeking a rebirth: “A shape with lion body and the head of a man, / A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, / Is moving its slow thighs.” Egypt represents a very bad time in the history of early Christianity – in Egypt, the Hebrew people were enslaved by the Egyptians, and it was only through the intercession of Moses in communication with God that the Hebrews were freed. That Egypt may be rising again signals a very difficult time for Christians and perhaps other people too – order may come, but it will an order in which there will be a class of rulers who will enslave and abuse people.
This would be a bad period in which the “The darkness drops again,” as opposed to the ‘light’ that Christ – the light of the world – would bring. Again, Yeats sees bad things coming. The second coming he is envisioning does not signal the start of good things coming; bad things will likely follow this second coming. In fact, dreams of goodness and peace are not the order of the day, as “twenty centuries of stony sleep / Were vexed to nightmare,” which can only signal bad things to come. This seems to Yeats to reflect a society that have lost contact with spiritual or moral values which would preserve order and avoid the nightmare. The modernist period in which Yeats was writing was full of war, as World War I was occurring; society was changing, but not necessarily for the better, at least in Yeats’ opinion.
The poem ends with two powerful lines full of a very awe-inspiring image: “what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” This “rough beast” seems to be connected to sphinx with its slow thighs. If this is what moves towards Bethlehem to be born, then it is not connected to the benign, benevolent savior Christ who was originally born in Bethlehem. Rather, it is something much darker and more malevolent which seems to be moving towards Bethlehem for rebirth. Perhaps this beast is the Beast, the Anti-Christ. This would sync with the notions of blood-dimmed tides and anarchy and chaos – in other words, end times. The coming of the Anti-Christ is also a sign of the end times in traditional Christian views; the end times occur prior to the return of Christ.
This poem suggests that Yeats is painting a picture of the time that occurs right before Christ comes back, during the time often referred to as the Tribulation. The whole poem hints at the darkness that seems to be coming toward civilization, which is already starting to fall apart, as far as Yeats sees it. The poem uses religious imagery to invoke dark Biblical images to paint a strong and clear picture of a world in chaos with more chaos on the horizon.
