Literature Network » William Butler Yeats

Fourteen For Tomorrow

Content courtesy of

From: The Jewish Week
Date: 20011219
Author:Goldblum, Robert

Goldblum, Robert
The Jewish Week
12-19-2001
Fourteen For Tomorrow

William Butler Yeats penned these haunting, apocalyptic lines in 1919 about
the Black and Tan war between England and Ireland, but given the jolt of
recent events -- terrorists ripping into our national symbols, a right to
America's chin -- the verse is eerily prescient:

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the center 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 ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on William Butler Yeats

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.