The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats: Summary

Poem:

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?

Summary:

The falcon is flying around. It is flying in the widening gyre. The falcon is flying in a destructive world. The cycle of destruction is going on. This is the world of lack of trust. This is the world of destruction. This is the world where there is no optimism. It is the world of dystopia or destruction. Everything is getting destroyed. Nothing is under control. The centre of the world is unable to control the world. Nothing is under control. Everything is getting destroyed. There is anarchy everywhere. The world has become a chaotic place. There is no fraternity. There is no innocence. We are losing our innocence. We are doing all sorts of bad things in the world we can so far. The modern people are not protesting. We are just sitting idle; we are just remaining silent; we are not doing anything. On the other hand, the politicians and bad people are destructing the world. They are showing their passion, earning money unfair means. But we are not protesting against them.

He says that there is no second coming. Jesus Christ is not going to come. Nobody is going to save our nation. Rather, he sees a vast image of Spiritus Mundi, a gigantic creature which has the body of a lion and human head. There is no emotion in his eyes. This creature is destructive. He is going to walk slowly towards Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a symbol here. It means earth. The beast walks slowly because its thighs are big and it has a gigantic body. When he walks, the birds are going to fly away. The poet says that there is no second coming and we have been dreamy. He talks about stony sleep. He says that we have been dreaming on earth. What is the dream? The dream is that our God is going to come one day. There will be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Then there will be the judgment day. Either they are going to heaven or hell. But according to the poet, there is no second coming. The cycle of destruction is going to carry on forever. Until the end of the world, destruction will go on. The world will remain a chaotic place. That is why, things will fall apart. Central will never hold and there are anarchies that will always loose upon the world. Chaos will always carry on its way in the world.