Listening Comprehension – The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats
The Second Coming
By William Butler 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 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?
Passage
W. B. Yeats’s poem The Second Coming was written in 1919, after the First World War. The poem describes a world in which traditional order and stability are breaking down. Yeats uses the image of a falcon flying away from its falconer. The falcon can no longer hear the falconer’s call, suggesting that humanity has lost contact with authority and control.
The poet says that “the centre cannot hold,” meaning that the forces that keep society united are becoming weak. He observes that the best people lack confidence and determination, while the worst people are full of passionate energy. Yeats expects some great change to occur, but instead of a peaceful Second Coming, he imagines a frightening creature with the body of a lion and the head of a man. This mysterious creature moves towards Bethlehem, creating a sense of fear and uncertainty about the future.
Questions
1. In which year was The Second Coming written?
2. What historical event had recently taken place when Yeats wrote the poem?
3. What does the falcon represent in the poem?
4. What does the phrase “the centre cannot hold” suggest?
5. How are the “best” people described in the poem?
6. How are the “worst” people described?
7. What kind of Second Coming does Yeats imagine?
8. What does the mysterious creature look like?
9. Towards which place is the creature moving?
10. What is the main theme or central fear expressed in the poem?
The Second Coming
By William Butler 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 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?
Passage
W. B. Yeats’s poem The Second Coming was written in 1919, after the First World War. The poem describes a world in which traditional order and stability are breaking down. Yeats uses the image of a falcon flying away from its falconer. The falcon can no longer hear the falconer’s call, suggesting that humanity has lost contact with authority and control.
The poet says that “the centre cannot hold,” meaning that the forces that keep society united are becoming weak. He observes that the best people lack confidence and determination, while the worst people are full of passionate energy. Yeats expects some great change to occur, but instead of a peaceful Second Coming, he imagines a frightening creature with the body of a lion and the head of a man. This mysterious creature moves towards Bethlehem, creating a sense of fear and uncertainty about the future.
Questions
1. In which year was The Second Coming written?
2. What historical event had recently taken place when Yeats wrote the poem?
3. What does the falcon represent in the poem?
4. What does the phrase “the centre cannot hold” suggest?
5. How are the “best” people described in the poem?
6. How are the “worst” people described?
7. What kind of Second Coming does Yeats imagine?
8. What does the mysterious creature look like?
9. Towards which place is the creature moving?
10. What is the main theme or central fear expressed in the poem?
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