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Things Fall Apart
Poem of the Week Feature
The Second Coming
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 Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the 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?
1920
William Butler Yeats
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
What I love about poetry is that the poet him or herself does not know when writing the poem what it really means or what import it may have in days to come. The poet merely writes from what he or she thinks of as truth and the best of it remains as such, or at least a harbinger of such.
Take this poem for instance, written in 1920, could it have been
written yesterday about our sorry situation in Iraq. Absolutely! Our Post Modern and post-avant poets cannot write so succinctly lest they be called modernist, meaning old fashioned or worse yet, sentimental, as surely the avant garde in their day characterized Yeats in 1920.
It doesn't matter. Poetry reflects the times in which we live. The more complex our lives, the more complex our poetry. I wish roses were still red and violets were still blue, but, alas, that is no longer true.
What is true is that corporations rule.
Accept that as a given and proceed from there whenever you think of freedom or democracy.
Think about the so called facts that have been shoved down your throats.
Think about all the distractions that have been tossed your way to distract you from your own self interest.
Religion? Gay Marriage? Abortion? Gun Control? Morality? Family Values? Racism? Immigration?
Who cares?
What about taxes, jobs, health care, an honest voting system?
Have we been distracted from focusing on these important issues?
But I digress, what has all this to do with poetry?
Posted at April 9, 2007 04:31 AM
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I discuss Yeats' poem at:
My inaugural address at the Great White Throne Judgment of the Dead, after I have raptured out billions! The Secret Rapture soon, by my hand!
Read My Inaugural Address
My Site=http://www.angelfire.com/crazy/spaceman
Your jaw will drop!
Posted by: Secret Rapture at April 9, 2007 10:55 AM