Yeats Vision

[avristy]

hey all...i was going thru Yeats's 'The second coming'...and the intial lines concerning the two gyres confused me...can anyone explain how the history of the world and the coming revelation can be interpreted by those two intersecting gyres ..

and the imagery of the falcon and the falconer.....help me out please....:)

[avristy]

hey all,,,please at least say somethng tht u kno abt yeats's the second coming...i am really in need of help......those intersecting gyres......

[JBI]

You are looking for criticism on the poem, or on his autobiographical work. A Vision?

[avristy]

no...just the interpretaion of the initial lines of the poem....turning and turning the widening gyre/the falcon cannot hear the falconer

[kingpython]

a gyre is "one-half of a symbol which consists of two inter-twined cones, the base of one being the apex of the other." they therefore represent "the inherent conflict in existence."

however that's not so important. crucial to the lines is that a falcon is flying round in a big arc and not listening to the falconer (its master). it's indicative of wider decay, everything breaking down, the death of order. don't get hung up on gyreing and perning because there's more to be read into them than they are, really.

the image comes as part of yeats' believe in the circular nature of time and, indeed, all things.