Himanshi Parmar : Poems of W. B. Yeats

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss about one major poem of W. B. Yeats entitled "The second coming", in reference of Spanish flu and Corona Pendemic Situation. Along with that i have done critical analysis of another poem "Death". But before that let me give some information about W. B. Yeats.

About W.B.Yeats :-

Full name of W.B.Yeats is William Butler Yeats. He was born on 13 June 1865, and died on 28 January 1939. He was a famous Irish poet, dramatist and writer. He wrote many poems like, 1) Leda and the swan, 2) Death, 3) The second coming, 4) He wishes for the cloths of heaven, 5) Long - Legged fly, etc. Main Themes of his work are, Love, Politics, Old - age art, history myth, aristocracy, violence and prophecy, innocence, Courtesy hatred, anarchy and nostalgia etc. To read more about Yeats (Click here)

Poem The second coming :-

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.

The darkness drops again; but now I know

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

- W.B.Yeats

About the poem :-

The second coming is the most important poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. The poem is considered as a major work of Modernist poetry. It was first published in "The Dial" in November 1920, and afterwards includs in his 1921 collection of verse entitled Michael Robartes and the Dancer. This is a short poem written in twenty two lines. And it is written in meter but no rhyme scheme. The poem divided into two stanzas. We find eight Verse in first stanza and fourteen lines in second Stanza, same as Sonnet. (Click here) and read more about structure and rhyme scheme of the poem.

Here is a video for summary of the poem.

The second coming as a pendemic poem :-

According to Elizabeth Outka, the works of some famous writers like T.S.Eliot, Virginia Woolf, William Butler Yeats, was deeply affected by the Spanish flu.and it comes out indirectly in the most of the literary works of this writers. Here we discuss that why The second coming is a pendemic poem?

The poem was written in 1919. And in same week when the poem was written, Yeats's wife George, who was pregnant, was caught the virus and she was very close to death. And at the time of pendemic, the death rates of pregnant women were among 70 percent. Which is very much horrible. So It is believed by Elizabeth Outka, that may be Yeats write The second coming, while his wife was convalescing. And might be because of that, unconsciously he wrote about pendemic.

2) When we read the poem we find some words like blood - dimmed tide which is related to the symptoms of Spanish flu. In Spanish flu, we find that runny nose, body aches, sore throat, chills sudden, high fever etc, As a main symptoms. While here also poet use the words like blood - dimmed tide, which is similar to chills,sore throat etc.which directly references to Spanish flu.

3) The ceremony of innocence is drowned, we are able to consider the poem as a pendemic poem by this line. We find that mostly innocent people were died during the corona time. And their death ceremonies were held. And even they don't get a proper ceremony. So that reference we can directly connect with it. Then,

"The best lack all

conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity",

This line we can connect with the situation of corona time, while rich people get every facilities and Poors are suffered a lot. And if we check the death rates we find that 99 percent people who were died, belonged from poor or middle class.

4) in this lines,

Turning and turning in the widening gyre,

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

And then, Yeats wrote that,. " Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world..."

In corona time we find that, chaos are there, people were came on road and begging for help, but no one there to help, nothing we find is In control,the situation gone worst and people started committing suicide. If we see across the world, we find the same situation everywhere. Most of the nation's economic condition declined.and people lost their jobs, their business, they forced to stay at home and wait for everything turns normal back. If we read the line I have wrote above, it directly related to this, in corona time also mere anarchy is loose upon the world. So it is relevant.

5) pendemic is natural calamity, so that no one able to control the situation and no one able to do anything In it. They have no way excepting wait until everything get back normal. In The second coming, poet wrote that, "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;" to the centre, we are able to connect with government. That during the pendemic situation, even government and authority were also not able to do anything. Even they find, people suffering, people dying, people committing suicide, they don't have enough oxigen, enough medicines, good medical service, they have nothing wich establish hope in them.and government used to help them , still they are not able to give them full facilities. So center cannot hold and things fall apart, we can connect with it easily.

6) we find that, during the pendemic time, people became more religious,they started worshipping god more and more and expect some relief and help from God. Here the lines, "surely some revelation is at hand,

Surely the second coming is at hand." Is referencing that people are believing that the second coming will surely happens and things will get better. The situation will again get back normal. But then when we read further, Yeats wrote that, "A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun." We can interpret this line as Yeats want to give message that, for what help and relief people are hoping, that will never come. And if it will come the look of that reliefs will be like this monstrous, and dangerous.

So this are the some points which is give us sign that the poem is a pendemic poem. Here is one video of recitation of the poem.

2] Critical analysis of any other poem written by W.B.Yeats.

Analysis of the Poem "Death":-

Death is one of the shortest poem by William Butler Yeats. The Poem written in 1929 and published In 1933, in a collection The Winding stair and other poems. The poem reflects morality in general and it's approaching death of poet himself in his last years of old age.The poem written in twelve lines. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABABACACCDCD.

Critical Analysis of the poem :-

Here, poet reducing the fear of death. In beginning he wrote that, "Nor dread nor hope attend a dying animal; " Yeats compares man's awareness that he will die with an animal's lack of awareness of this. But animal never fear from death, because they have no sense or concept of death. And they don't even hopes for life after death. Then he further wrote that,

"A man Awaits his end

Dreading and hoping all;"

Further Yeats tell that, but people feel fear of death. And they also believe rebirth. As we see in religion that our soul is immortal and it will take birth again and again.so people are also fearing about rebirth and by the concept of after death. Means the concept of heaven and hell. But animal can not think about all this.because they have no senses like this. So they don't even fear from death and all. Poet further wrote that,

Many times he died,

Many times rose again,

In this line, poet give us a deep meaning of life. Brave people can die only once but coward man can die every by his own fear of death. Fear of death can kill us more than death. Also we interpret that, many times he died means failure onc could face in his life and many times rose again means, the second attempt or second try done after each failure. And those who stop making efforts are died according to Yeats in this poem. This lines are also echoing a sentiment of Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, in that he wrote that, "Coward die many times before their deaths. The brave experience death only once." Yeats further wrote that,

A great man in his pride

Confronting murderous men

Casts derision upon

Supersession of breath;

In this lines, poet put a question for the readers. That when we die, at that time do we replaced our existence with anyone? What happens with us after the death or when we die. And at last he wrote that,

He knows death to the bone -

Man has created death.

Means, concept of death is created by man, and great man can not feel trouble by this kind of questions. Yeats is not denying death or the universal truth that one day all will die. But he just want to give message that, why people are living in the fear of death, why they consider death as a horrible, painful. When it is decided that we all have to die one day, then why we are thinking so much about that. Animal also dies, just like man. but they does not live their life within the question of existence and death. This is the core message of the poem of Yeats.let me connect some lines i have taken from one gujrati poem, which seems so related and somehow similar with the poem "Death".