What rough beast? Yeats, Nietzsche and historical rhetoric in "The Second Coming."

From: Papers on Language & Literature | Date: September 22, 1995| Author: Harrison, John R. | Copyright information

Previous critical readings of William Butler Yeats's poem 'The Second Coming' have failed to consider the poet's historical rhetoric. Analyses of the poem have given it meaning opposite to what the poet intended. The poem has many images that leave much room for interpretation, especially since those messages evoke the idea of paradox as described by Nietzche. The poem is indicative of the use of imagery and what it provokes in Yeats's best works. The sphinx in the poem evokes many images.

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