The Second Coming

The Second Coming -- W. B. Yeats

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 convictions, 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?

in chronological order (or any other order) and turn the page to this poem, the first words upon reading it would be, "Where the hell did this come from?" This is what is meant by the muse inspiring to dizzying heights. We today take from it a different message than (I assume) Yeats intended, knowing the man's political bent; it is still one of my favorites. "Everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned" - awesome. I know the first stanza by heart.

might not it have been what "the muse" herself may have intended?

One may intend to make oneself available to the muse, and if successful, one surrends to her dictates. Is personal intent any longer operational in that event?

While I had passing acquaintance with Yeats due to a lifelong love of poetry, I got a whole different view of him from my study of the "Golden Dawn" in the early 70's -- part of the late 19th to early 20th century English occult movement.

Looked at from that perspective, it is not at all impossible to speculate that inspired prophecy WAS Yeats' intent; and one might furthermore conjecture that he may have actually attained a prophetic state of conscious due to his application of the spiritual principles that he was studying at that time.

Just sayin'...

I think it is entirely appropriate to take whatever meaning from this poem that calls most deeply to one. I have had this poem echoing in my mind since 9/11/01. At some point later that day, I searched for "The Second Coming", printed it out, and copied it to my hard drive.

sw

in chronological order (or any other order) and turn the page to this poem, the first words upon reading it would be, "Where the hell did this come from?" This is what is meant by the muse inspiring to dizzying heights. We today take from it a different message than (I assume) Yeats intended, knowing the man's political bent; it is still one of my favorites. "Everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned" - awesome. I know the first stanza by heart.

There is one line of this poem that has been coming back to me in the last few years and especially the last few weeks.

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;"

I really feel like the integrity of everything we identify ourselves with as Americans has been so badly undermined that collapse cannot be far behind. I really hope I'm wrong.

Isn't nice to collapse after a hard day or nights work? We can rebuild this thing we call America. We can do better than what our ancestors, both dead and alive, have done for us. We have 3 million years of human history to draw on. We can avoid the mistakes of our fathers!

...but the centre can indeed hold.
Consider the alliance between (my political guru) UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and your nemesis George W.
The centre is holding well.
Perhaps some perceptual problems need adjustment as to where the centre is...and perhaps with some time, and some perceptual re-appraisal things might not seem quite so bleak...

"..AND WHAT ROUGH BEAST, ITS HOUR COME ROUND AT LAST,

SLOUCHES TOWARDS BETHLEHEM TO BE BORN?"


BushAmerica
(shudder)