The Second Coming Themes
Good vs. Evil
Are good people still good if they don’t act in the face of chaos? Is there something awe-inspiring about people who do bad things, but who "are full of passionate intensity"? The question of...
Society and Class
As a historical figure, Yeats embodies the ambiguities of European society at the time (the early 1900s). He was a radical insofar as he believed that Ireland should be free from the oppression of...
Versions of Reality
Though "The Second Coming" is short, it is packed with symbols and visions that are hard to untangle. In general, the first stanza of the poem is the speaker’s metaphoric statement on the way...
Warfare
In the Bible's Book of Revelation, Christ is prophesied to return to the world to engage in a campaign, called the Battle of Armageddon, against the forces of evil. Yeats uses this symbolic battle...
Memory and The Past
Yeats was capable of taking the long view of history. He uses the image of the gyre, a coil that continues to expand outward, as a symbol of the fragmentation of society. Also, he conceives of the...