Second Coming

The poem “The Second Coming” was written by William Butler Yeats in 1919. Yeats was an accomplished Irish poet and was known for the socio-religious ideas he emphasized in his poetry. In “The Second Coming,” his ideas unfold in three significant metaphors. The first metaphor relates a falcon and its falconer to the destruction of society. The metaphor has two possible interpretations. One view may be that the falcon represents society and the falconer represents God …

…or evil. The metaphor demonstrates Yeats’ socio-religious idea that because mankind has lost order, morality, and obedience to God, the Second Coming might not bring about a new beginning, but rather the end of Christianity. Through these metaphors, Yeats highlights his socio-religious belief that the breakdown of societal morals has reached the point where even the anticipated “Second Coming” is questioned as to whether it will be a positive new beginning or an evil resurrection.