Analytical response to a poem - Essay Example

The poet is successful in creating the nightmarish situation before the readers through the careful selection of images, symbols, allegories, diction, etc. and thereupon to indicate the situation of the world he lives in. "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" (Yeats, lines 3-6) According to the speaker of the poem, the best people in the world lack all conviction, whereas the worst "are full of passionate intensity.

" Therefore, a reflective analysis of the poem "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, it becomes lucid that the poet employs harsh imagery, powerful language, and strong symbolism in order to warn readers of a world in a chaotic downfall and the approach of the birth of an antichrist in a new two thousand year cycle. This paper undertakes a profound investigation of the use of imagery, symbolism, and poetic language in the poem "The Second Coming" in order to determine the main themes as well as aesthetic characteristics of the poem.

The poem "The Second Coming" by WB Yeats belongs to the Modernist poetry and the poet has been effective in incorporating the various poetic techniques of the Modernist poetry. . "Turning / and turn / ing in / the widen / ing gyre // The fal / con can / not hear / the fal / coner" (Yeats, lines 1-2) Significantly, the rhymes of the poem are haphazard too and there are only coincidental rhymes in the poem, such as "man" and "sun", apart from the two opening couplets of the poem. Thus, the major rhymes of the poem include "gyre" and "falconer", "hold" and "world", and "man" and "sun".

The poem is written in two stanzas - the first one with eight lines and the second one with sixteen lines. In a reflective analysis of the imagery used by the poet in "The Second Coming", one recognizes that Yeats begins his prophetic poem with harsh and dark imagery which effectively conveys the message of the poet. The opening image of 'the widening gyre' which suggests the historical movement or trend started at the birth of Jesus Christ is figured as a falcon's towering and the images such as 'falcon', 'falconer', 'Mere anarchyloosed upon the world' etc indicates the kind of world that the poet lives in.

Similarly, other images like 'blood-dimmed tide', 'ceremony of innocence', 'passionate intensity', 'the Second Coming', 'vast image out of Spiritus Mundi, 'shape with lion body and the head of a man', 'indignant desert birds', 'stony sleep', 'rocking cradle', etc help the author in effectively conveying his points. Therefore, the stunning, violent, harsh and dark imagery used in the poem makes it greatly appealing to the readers and the author efficiently communicates to the readers through these images.

The use of strong and convincing symbolism has made significant contribution to the success of "The Second Coming" which is Yeats' most