The main feeling conveyed by the speaker in this poem, “The Second Coming” is one of
http://www.potw.org/archive/potw351.html
Read the comments under the poem as it's printed in the linked website, and remember when this was written. Then consider the lines in bold, and then let us know what you think.
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.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
The main feeling conveyed by the speaker in the poem "The Second Coming" is one of despair and a sense of chaos. To understand this, we can analyze the poem and its various elements.
"The Second Coming" is a poem by W.B. Yeats, written in 1919. The poem reflects the turbulent and unpredictable times in which it was written, following the devastation of World War I and the global upheaval caused by social and political changes.
To analyze the feeling conveyed by the speaker, we can focus on the language, imagery, and themes presented in the poem. The language used throughout the poem is dark and foreboding, creating a sense of unease. For example, phrases such as "Turning and turning in the widening gyre" and "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold" indicate a lack of stability and order.
The imagery employed in the poem also contributes to the feeling of despair. The image of a "blood-dimmed tide" suggests violence and destruction, while the "rough beast" symbolizes a menacing force that is about to be unleashed upon the world. These images evoke a sense of chaos and impending doom.
Furthermore, the themes explored in the poem, such as the cyclic nature of history and the loss of faith in traditional beliefs, contribute to the feeling of despair. The speaker is disillusioned and laments the current state of the world, feeling that a catastrophic event is imminent and that society is crumbling.
To summarize, the main feeling conveyed by the speaker in the poem "The Second Coming" is one of despair and a sense of chaos. This is evident through the language, imagery, and themes presented in the poem, which collectively convey a feeling of unease and impending doom.