William Butler Yeats wrote his “The Second Coming” in January of 1919, three years after the Easter Rebellion of 1916 and after the First World War had ravaged Europe from 1914 until 1918. Chinua Achebe wrote “Things Fall Apart”, his first novel, in 1958, just two years prior to the establishment of an independent Nigerian state. These two seemingly unrelated pieces of literature are actually more related to each other than just the title.

All of the horrors that occurred during the First World War and conflicts between the Irish and English can explain the intricate and chaotically dark imagery of “The Second Coming”. The poem contains “the recurring theory of history. The theory is one of the main themes within “The Second Coming.” The “widening gyre,” which appears in the first line of “The Second Coming,” is the path along which the rest of the poem's imagery and action is set.

Europe was reeling from the physical and financial effects of the war. From Russia Bolshevism cast its shadow over the old patterns of work. War had broken out .Ireland was on the brink of rebellion, and within Irish society the Protestant Ascenda

The words of Yeats influenced Achebe. Things Fall Apart closely shows the idea of anarchy being loosed upon a world. “A knife was put on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart,” wrote Achebe (Things Fall Apart 176). This quote can directly be taken to the idea of “things” falling apart for the Ibos; their clan separated and these rifts came to Okonkwo, as his son fell away from the family to become a Christian. “The centre cannot hold” is another important phrase, in “The Second Coming,” which relates to Things Fall Apart. Achebe wrote, “The white man came quietly and peaceably with his religion” (Achebe 176). The Christians came in peacefully to establish a mission to bring religion and convert the “uncivilized” Ibos. However, their peaceful mission causes trouble for the Ibos. “The falcon cannot hear the falconer” is linked to the converted who no longer heard the ideas of their traditions and traditional culture and beliefs. “Now the white man has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one,” said Achebe (176). The white men proved to be the “anarchy loosed” upon the Ibos as they caused many Ibos to fall away from “the centre.” Enoch's action of unmasking the egwugwu instigates battle between the Ibos and the church. The unmasking also connects to the assassination of the Archduke because that caused the outbreak of a war in Europe, and the unmasking of the egwugwu caused the outbreak of hostilities between Ibos and the Christians.

“The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fal

Some topics in this essay:
Fall Apart, Achebe Okonkwo, Apart Achebe, Irish English, Protestant Ascendancy, Butler Yeats', India Ireland, Fall Apart”, “the coming”, World War, Russia Bolshevism, fall apart, world war, wrote achebe, caused outbreak, line 15 “the, coming” “a, falcon hear, “the falcon, achebe wrote, anarchy loosed, achebe fall apart, line “the coming”, 15 “the coming”, “the coming” “a,