Literature Network » William Butler Yeats

Yeats's THE SECOND COMING.(William Butler Yeats)(Dante Gabriel Rossetti)(Critical Essay)

Content courtesy of

From: The Explicator
Date: 20010101
Author:CARVO, NATHAN A.

A reader of "The Second Coming" is likely to miss the ironic point of the double entendre "Bethlehem" in the last line (22) if the poem is not recognized for what it is--a pendant to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "The Burden of Nineveh." (In his Autobiography, Yeats records the fact that he arrived at poetic maturity in a Pre-Raphaelite milieu.)

In "The Burden of Nineveh," Rossetti reflects on "A winged beast from Nineveh" (10) whose statue he encountered as he was leaving the British Museum ("our Museum galleries," 1):

A human face the creature wore,

And hoofs behind and ...

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.