The Second Coming

William Butler YeatsFiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1919

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1. Describe the mood of the poem. How does the poem make you feel? What kind of atmosphere does it create? Share examples of imagery and specific words that support your answer.

2. What is the message of the poem? What does the speaker think that the future will bring for humanity? Is this future good or bad? Is there evidence for both outcomes?

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3. In the biblical Book of Revelation, the Second Coming refers to the return of Jesus. In Yeats’s poem, what is the Second Coming? Why do you think Yeats titled the poem “The Second Coming”?

4. Yeats believed in the cyclical nature of history. What symbol in “The Second Coming” represents this viewpoint? Why do you think so?