Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," depicts the approach of a new world order and demonstrates the concept that change is inevitable. “The Second Coming” also taps into the concept of the gyre. The gyre is the idea that history occurs in cycles, specifically cycles "twenty centuries" in length (ln. 19). In this poem, Yeats predicts that the Christian era will soon give way apocalyptically to an era ruled by a desert beast with a “lion body and the head of a man” (ln. 14). Yeats describes the beast's eyes as "pitiless as the sun" (ln. 15), and it is fol

lowed not by the falcon, but by "shadows of desert birds," which are probably vultures. And no self-respecting vulture would soar around a titanic beast simply because of its symbolic significance; vultures go where there is food. This beast is not only pitiless, but it leaves carnage behind, which leaves the reader to believe that this beast is not very friendly at all. Yeats felt that because of World War 1, Europe was left in complete chaos, and total anarchy was released upon the world. Yeats is trying to tell the reader that the society that was left in the wake of the war is already beginning to fall apart, and The Second Coming will occur. The Second Coming refers to the promised return of Christ on Doomsday; however, Doomsday is instead marked by the appearance of the terrifying beast.

In each of these pieces, change is inevitable and the nature of change can be chaotic and destructive. Both pieces of litera

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