The Second Coming

Yeats' poem "The Second Coming"

Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" extensively draws on religious symbolism and biblical allusion to convey its main idea. The New Testament's book of revelation as well as the authors' own historical and theological framework of the spiritualist movements, Celtic revival, and Vico testify to the use of Christianity. Notably, the poem's subject of the Second Coming of Christ is implied in both the title and the poem's main action. According to the Bible, the Second Coming of Christ is connected to the end of the world, when individuals will be judged and assigned to either Hell or Heaven. The presence of the Beasts and the return to Bethlehem denotes the complicated historical cycle of incarnation. Yeats utilizes the aspect of "gyre," or a "cycle" of around 2000 years in driving the theme of revelation in the poem the sphinxlike creature fulfills the prophecy that is seen in the book of revelation (Yeats). Evidently, the biblical allusion in the poem is significant in the development of the theme of the poem.

Babylon Revisited

Fitzgerald's in this poem depicts a biblical allusion that refers to Babylon that is found in the Old Testament. Biblically, the Tower of Babel that was built to reach heaven is synonymous to Babylon. From the biblical story, God did not want all people on earth to have one language and thus made each one of them speak a different language, and the building of the Tower became impossible. Indeed, the success they had to enjoy in building the tower vanished. The Babylon is regarded as Fitzgerald to be a sense of individual tumbling socially from greater heights of wealth as it is the case with Charlie Wales (Fitzgerald). Wales had massive wealth which he had made from the stock market before it crashed in 1929. His wife later died, and his life turned miserable, and his daughter left him. Wales' story is a metaphor of the biblical story that relates Babylon.

The Imperfect Paradise

The most dominant literary device that is evident in "The Imperfect Paradise" is a biblical allusion. This device essentially dictates the central theme in the poem which recounts the story of creation and the Garden of Eden. Evidently, these are seen in the first line of the poem, and it is carried in the entire poem. The first two lines of the poem read "If God had stopped work after the fifth day/ With Eden full of vegetables and fruits..." (Pastan). This refers to the story in the bible where God created the universe as well as the story of Eden. The lines manifest to the story of animals and plants that were created on the initial day of creation. Mentioning of the Garden of Eden portrays to be a very significant biblical allusion which was termed to be a paradise created by God until when Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent. This brought evilness into the paradise of God. Notably, the idea of human flaw and the human race being the source of evilness and imperfection in the universe is the primary focus of the poem. Pastan utilizes the biblical allusion in posing a great question of the positive impact of human sins and flaws that are seen in the world. The biblical allusion is significant to the then poem as it creates an interpretation of serene paradise and untamed wilderness.

Go Down Moses

In the spiritual "Go Down Moses," River Jordan is linked to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." River Jordan is an important story in the bible that passes through the Holy Land representing what the ancient Israelites followed searching the Promised Land. The allegorical interpretation of River Jordan as explained in the bible depict where suffering does as seen on the slaves. The allegory is seen in river Ohio which was a point where the slaves could have gone and become free which is the Promised Land. In "Go Down, Moses," the use of Moses directly refers to the Pharaoh who tortured the Israelites, and Moses was seen to be the deliverance (The spiritual). With the incorporation of Pharaoh and Moses in the poem, the spiritual managed to operate on a biblical level in an attempt to express the reality that the slaves encountered in life.

Works Cited

Fitzgerald F. Scott. “Babylon Revisited.” 1931. http://gutenberg.net.au/fsf/BABYLON-REVISITED.html. Accessed on August 8, 2017.

Pastan Linda. “The Imperfect Paradise” 1988. https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/imperfect-paradise. Accessed on August 8, 2017.

The spiritual. “Go Down Moses.” 1982. http://hymnary.org/tune/go_down_moses. accessed on August 8, 2017.

Yeats William Butler. “The Second Coming.” 1919. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming. Accessed on August 8, 2017.