‘The Second Coming’ by William Butler Yeats
‘The Second Coming’ by William Butler Yeats: Stanza 1 explained line by line/ Explanation of the First Stanza/Elucidation of the Opening Stanza with critical comments 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, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Ans. These lines constitute the first stanza of the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. The opening line of the poem mentions of a spiral or a ‘gyre’ that is a geometrical figure. As we see, the vortex is getting widened more and more tirelessly. Broadly speaking, the more the gyre is widened or turned, the more strength it does lose. Again, in another words, it can be said that the falcon—a predator bird—fails to hear the instruction of the fal...