I actually had read this poem before it was assigned to us in class and I really enjoyed this reading. The reason I am writing this blog now, instead of earlier last week when the reading was assigned to us, is because on Saturday night the Left Behind movies (currently 3) were airing on TV as a "Doomsday" special. I thought it was so ironic that this special was airing right after we had read The Second Coming in class.
The Second Coming is possibly one of my favorite poems because the poem captures the eeriness and ominous tone of what will be the Apocalypse. I will never forget my English teacher in high school reading this poem aloud to us because she read it in a voice that did justice to the diction of the poem. The words alone can send chills up your spine as you speak of the "winding gyre" and the beast "slouching" its way towards Bethlehem to be born. Every time I read this poem I can immediately connect the diction and the tone with what the true end times will be like when this world finally comes to an end.
Another aspect of this poem that adds to the overall tone is that Yeats gives the reader no hope at the end. He does not tell of Christ's second coming or the world ending up in the perfect order that will be Christ's eternal reign. I think this type of ending truly captures what Yeats was intending when he wrote The Second Coming.
It was so cool to watch the Left Behind movies (based on the Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye) and connect the poem and the prophecies in the Bible to the movies. I got the same feeling from the actor who plays the Antichrist as I did from The Second Coming. The feeling is just this indescribable feeling of evil and fear. You can feel yourself getting slightly more and more depressed as you delve further into the character of each of these things. In a way, The Second Coming represents everything that the Antichrist wishes to accomplish (fear, despair, loss of hope, sadness, etc.).
Ultimately I felt the same way about The Second Coming as I did when I read it in high school. Yeats does an amazing job in displaying what tone can do to a reader and how that tone somehow finds a way into several different aspects of our life (such as the Left Behind movies).
Hi Robert, thanks for the good post on Yeats' poem, "The Second Coming." I am glad you had a good experience with it in high school. Often students do not, since it is indeed an eerie and disturbing poem. I liked the way you compared it to the "Left Behind" series, which I thought was a valid comparison. Yeats does not give us much insight into the "rough beast" that ambles towards Jerusalem to be born. Good post. dw
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