THE SECOND COMING BY WILLIAM YEATS Essay -- essays research papers

William Butler Yeats, a multita contributeed individual won the Nobel rate in 1923. Born the son of a well known Irish painter and religious skeptic had many influences in his life. Eventually, he born-again to Paganism from Christianity. He is till this day considered one of the greatest poets that of all time lived.To understand the meaning of William Butler Yeats rime The Second advent, you must first understand the difference between Christianity and Paganism. Yeats was raised as a Christian and turned to pagan mysticism later in his life. Therefore, we plunder find the subject of this poem by tracing his flow of survey through Christianity up to the diaphragm when he diverged from it.Christianity is based around the psyche. The soul becomes healthy by its removal from the sin, which it inherits in the foundation. A healthy or virtuous soul is close to God by contact with the hallowed Spirit. The Holy Spirit can be considered the sense of smell of God on earth. Jesu s Christ is thought to be the embodiment of the Holy Spirit, indeed the embodiment of virtue.In contrast, Pagans hero-worship the spirit of earth as a god, believing it to be the ultimate force, which is neither good nor evil. The religion states the much base human tendencies that Christians would call sinful would be glorified as the reflections of nature. These would include pursuits of pleasure, luxury, or sexual gratification. Many modern pagans especially the ones Yeats associated with do not dispute the ideas of Christianity concerning God but they do not worship him. Early leaders of this movement, like Alister Crowley, with whom Yeats was associated with considered themselves Satanists in this right since Christians equate the spirit of the world with the devil. Yeats was certainly a Christian at some flush in his life and makes allusions to Christian faith in The Second Coming, which would indicate that he lends some credence to it, so we can wear that he took the Sat anist point of view.As the world turned towards pagan religion so did Yeats. The poem, while on one level is an earnest explanation of the change that is occurring to mankind, it is also an earnest illustration of his change to paganism.The opening eight lines illustrate the strife Yeats had seen in his lifetime from a Christian point of view. They describe man as moving away from God in a desperate quality, obviously not written by a pagan. Upon his cries to... ... Alliteration surely some, stony sleep. Onomatopoeia is also on display vexed, slouches. The piece also includes some simile fatuous and pitiless as the sun, and metaphor stony sleep.The nicety is set early on in the poem. It opens with a neutral expression the non-realistic imagery makes the opening disengaged. The impact of the first two lines is not lent by tone, but by their peculiarity and imagery. The sense of devastation that pervades the poem is introduced in the second part, it is explicitly stated that t hings fall apart, and this is come on emphasized by the words anarchy, blood-dimmed tide, passionate military posture. However, the poem itself, which is so far dealing in abstractions, lacks this passionate intensity. Its tone could be described as anxious.In conclusion, The Second Coming is close William Butler Yeats belief in Paganism. He vividly describes this religion and compares it to Christianity in his poem. This message although hidden can be uncovered through diligent analysis and patient reading. This poem is Yeats way of telling people that the world will start to switch to paganism and as he already did at the time of writing this great piece of work.