The Gyre
Line 1: The "gyre" is an important recurring symbol in Yeats’s poetry. Technically, it stands from the alternation between two historical cycles: one characterized by order and growth, the ot...
Medieval
Lines 1-2: Falconing was an activity that is associated with medieval times. People with enough wealth – that is, feudal landowners – often built aviaries where they kept birds to use f...
Biblical
Title: "The Second Coming" is an allusion to the reappearance of Christ as prophesied in the Book of Revelation.Lines 4-6: These lines contain two more allusions to the Bible. First, the word "anar...
Spiritus Mundi
Lines 12-17: These lines are an example of symbolism, and they contain several symbols that can really be disconnected from another. In general, they represent a confused "veiled" vision of the "ro...