The+Second+Coming

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="The Second Coming"= is written by William Butler Yeats (one of my favorite Irish poets) and he wrote this in the wake of World War I. Imagine looking out your window and seeing the ENTIRE world engaged in war with weapons people had only imagined. With no television and limited media, stories of the horrors circulated like bad gossip and people looked towards the poets to make sense of humanity. For Yeats, the visions of WWI haunted him and the poem, "The Second Coming" was drawn from mankind's worst fear: that the end was here-not coming soon, but here right now. While most critics agree over the occasion for Yeats' poem, there are many different interpretations of the poem. Filled with biblical and mythological allusions and obscure clues, Yeats' vision is a great challenge for any analytical mind.

[|AUDIO FEED of "The Second Coming"]

=The End= Many religions have accepted that the end of the world is already designed and that humans must live their lives knowing that the 'day of reckoning' is known only to that particular God.

For Christians, the Book of Revelations details very specific events preceding the Armageddon. [|Summary of the Book of Revelations...really interesting story.]

http://kingjbible.com/revelation/1.htm In the Quran, you will also find a list of preceding events which, in many ways, parallels the Book of Revelations. http://www.inter-islam.org/faith/Majorsigns.html#genral1

=Assignment= The concept of an Armageddon is a popular topic in poetry, especially when humans are facing Armageddon-like circumstances. Thus, "The Second Coming" is often revisited by people of every generation that faces horrific tragedies. Now, there are a number of different interpretations for the poem out there, and as I've said in class, many contrast each other. You be the judge when you post your reaction. What is your impression of this poem? What was Yeats' message? Why would Achebe choose this title for his book and include lines from the poem in the beginning of his book? Research, find opposing ideas, learn as much as you can. Assignment: In your post, you can synthesize the meaning of the entire poem, or you can choose to analyze one part of the poem. Remember, there is no wrong answer. Perhaps you could speculate why Achebe would allude to this poem in his title. =The Second Coming by W.B. Yeats=
 * If you find a picture or website you find helpful, include the link for others so you can open up further discussion.

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?