“The Second Coming”
“The Second Coming”
William Butler Yeats and His Influence on Chinua Achebe
Achebe’s Access to Yeats
Achebe’s Access to Yeats
Although Chinua Achebe is from Africa, hewas educated in England and had a lovefor English literature.
The title of his novel, Things Fall Apart,comes from a poem by Irish Poet WilliamButler Yeats, “The Second Coming” (1921).
Yeats was a poet, dramatist, critic andSenator in Ireland (another countrycolonized by the English), and wasdevoted to building Irish culture andLiterature.
Excerpt
Excerpt
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
Yeats’ Philosophy About History
Yeats’ Philosophy About History
Yeats believed that the cycle of history was divided into 2000-yearcycles, which he called “gyres.”
The first great era/cycle was the Classical Age (invasion of the mortal byimmortal – think Greek mythology)
Yeats believed that the Christian Era (another invasion of mortal byimmortal with birth of Christ) was coming to an end
and the one that would follow (unknown and unnamed
was heralded by the dissolution of civilization, a mark
of all major changes in human history (evidenced
by brutality and desolation of WWI.
The Gyre
The Gyre
