The Second Coming: Symbols

The Widening Gyre

The speaker opens the poem with an immediate plunge into disorientation: “Turning and turning in the widening gyre” (line 1). Strictly speaking, a “gyre” is a spiral or a vortex, much like the circular current of water in a drain. An expanding vortex of the kind described by the speaker no doubt has great destructive capacity, which makes the image of a “widening gyre” particularly ominous. For Yeats, however, the word “gyre”—which he pronounced with a hard G sound—had additional symbolic significance. His longstanding fascination with mysticism led him to elaborate his own theory of history. This theory is rooted in a notion that all historical processes entail contrary motions. He envisioned these contrary motions as metaphysical spirals that he termed “gyres.” Yeats divided these gyres into specific regions that represented particular kinds of historical periods, though they could also represent the psychological phases of an individual’s development. But regardless of the specificities of his arcane theory, the image of a “widening gyre” symbolizes the inevitable cataclysm that comes when the contrary motions that govern historical development fall out of balance. As one of the gyres of history spins out of control, catastrophe looms.

The Falcon and the Falconer

In the second line of the poem, the speaker declares: “The falcon cannot hear the falconer.” Falconry is a sport that involves the collaboration between a bird of prey (the falcon) and its handler (the falconer). The falconer issues verbal commands to the falcon, which then executes those commands, typically to hunt for small animals such as rabbits or squirrels. Here, though, there is a loss of communication between the falcon and the falconer, which the speaker offers as one of several examples of an ongoing cataclysm that has unleashed chaos in the world. In this case, the untethering of falcon and the falconer symbolizes a metaphysical rift. This rift is suggested by the different spatial positions occupied by the bird and its handler. Whereas the falcon soars high above, and hence may be associated with an elevated plane of reality, the falconer remains on the ground, which is to say the earthly plane. The metaphysical and earthly planes have thus become untethered.

The Rough Beast

When the speaker mentions a “rough beast” in line 21, they are referring to the sphinx-like creature they have previously described in lines 13–16:

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

As the speaker goes on to prophesy, this creature has awoken from “twenty centuries of stony sleep” (line 19), and it now “slouches towards Bethlehem to be born” (22). Though the true nature of this rough beast remains enigmatic, it’s clear at least that its arrival symbolizes the arrival of a new age. The current world order, which is coming to an end, has lasted for two thousand years. This passing age has been defined by the dominance of Christianity. We can infer as much from the closing reference to Bethlehem, which was the historical birthplace of Jesus Christ. The rough beast has been “vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle” (line 20)—which is to say, the cradle of Christ. Now awake, the beast heads to Bethlehem, presumably to replace (kill?) Christ and become the dominant figure for the coming world order. Though exceedingly ominous in the speaker’s prophecy, it remains unclear just what this rough beast will be like. It is therefore also a symbol for the terror of the unknown.

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