1. The Second Coming Vs. Things Fall Apart
In 1919 William Butler Yeats published a poem called "The Second Coming." Forty Years later, Chinua Achebe took the third line from that poem for the title of his book Things Fall Apart. Both pieces of literature deal with the beginning and the end of a civilization. Both show that change is inevitable and the nature of change can be chaotic and destructive. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," depicts the approach of ... 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 ...
- Word Count: 621
- Approx Pages: 2
- Grade Level: High School