I love this poem. I’ve been reading it for years and get something new out of it each time. I feel that humanity is the falcon, flying in an ever widening gyre, unable to hear the falconer, who represents either God or humanity’s soul or higher self. The beast has brute strength in its body and intellect symbolised by the human head but no heart or soul. The older I get, the more prophetic this poem feels to me.
Surele, today in America: "The best lack all conviction, while the the worst are full of passionate intensity"is as true a description of the state of affairs as can possibly be made.
I am 70years old and familiar with this poem. I believe the falconer is at the centre or the start, bottom of the gyre. The gyre is the flight pattern of the falcon which shows the falcon widening his circle and moving away from the centre, the falcon eventually is on its own and can’t hear the falconer chaos is set upon the people’s. There is no Mercy because we don’t love each other.
I'm a Japanese high school student and I learned this poem at school.But it was so difficult to understand, so this video was so helpful for me! Thank you for a great analysis.
I'm from Iraq , a country you probably haven't heard about it but we study this poem at university. That's a great analysis thank you so much for the effort.
Respected sir, I am watching your class at this time but i can't watch right now because firstly I have to give you the great Thanks . Lots of love and respect from India I am the student of B.A. English literature but i can't get the clear idea after attending lecture from my professor. But i have cleared it very well by your amazing teaching style. Thank you so much for the class
An important part of this poem, to me, is the relationship of falcon/falconer. I see this as symbolic of people losing touch with founding principles. In our current times (crisis?) this is exemplified by ever-greater expansion of individuality, always pushing past the next taboo to make it mainstream. Also, “the widening gyre” is symbolic of the falcon tiring. Dante mentions this in Inferno, Canto XVII-24… I’ve always wondered if Yeats is referring to this or if this is just a commonly used falcon trait. This “tiring” explains to me how “the best lack all conviction.”
Haven’t listened to your whole vid yet, but as soon as I heard your SA accent, I knew this analysis would be spiritually mature and thought provoking. Thank you for a beautiful recitation and sharing of valuable insights 🤗
Our instructor told that the falcon is referring to humans and the falconer is Jesus. The humans are moving away from the teaching of Jesus so that's why the falcon is not listening to the falconer.
I’m watching Black Earth Rising on Netflix. Heard the line “the center cannot hold” which lead me here. It’s interesting how your drawing distracted you yet perfectly illustrated meaning to me, a visual learner. Thank you for this review.
I'm a Sri Lankan university student and i was in a big trouble with this poem. But your explanation was so simple and it helps me to get a better idea regarding the poem. Thank you so much sir
Well, I guess William is lucky, since he didn't have to witness what the world is going through right now when it comes to Gaza and all the terrorism that's happening nowadays, it's as if he was saved from having to see all of the continuation of what he mentioned in his poem, such a very well written poem, I am mind blown and thank you so much for your amazing elaboration of the poem aswell.
It might be added that falcons do "pyrne in a gyre" as Yeats would have it in another poem: That is, falcons turn in an ever widening spiral whilst they hunt and at the moment they spot prey, they abandon the "gyre" and drop straight down upon their victim.
in the Book of Revelarion it says Christ will come back and in "righteousness he doth judge and make war" and that the oceans will turn to blood and rivers of blood will flow over the earth as high as a horse's bridle. could this be Yeats blood-dimmed tide?
Thank you, sir - I am thinking about this poem as a psychotherapy trainee, and how the 'evil' is that which we cannot own in ourselves and project into the world. Wonderful analysis I'm grateful from London
When I first read this years ago, it sent chills down my spine - on some level I 'grasped' the horror, but your explanation has clarified why. Do you think Yeats was seeing the death of Christianity, and the rise of some evil belief system that might replace it? Some people have suggested Trump, but he is a dandelion puff next to the utterly pitiless, atheistic, materialistic and iron fisted men who would like to rule the world. Thoughts? And thank you for your interpretation!
In my interpretation, his message for this poem and his belief in the gyres doesn't replace "good" for "evil", but an opposite for opposite in a never ending cycle. In his other works (mainly "A Vision"), he further describes his belief in the gyres. Basically, to my understanding each gyre rotates towards a point of maximum expansion (like a tornado described on this video). However, he also believed there to be an an anti-helical grye (running in the opposite direction yet concurrently). If he believes that our history runs along one gyre, then the opposite gyre represents the opposite- a form of balance yet leading to the collapse of the other. Google Yeats Grye and on images you should see some visual ideas. Therefore, in my interpretation of this poem and the gyres, I believe Yeats wasn't seeing the removal of 'Christianity' for evil (in your example), but the rise of something else- potentially Pagenism or even Naturalism- an opposite. For example, you could argue that he balances the idea of "Leda and the Swan"- a greek myth about Zeus transforming into a Swan to rape Leda- as the antithesis to the symbolic Dove and the Virgin Mary. Also, while Yeats grew up in a predominantly Christian society, I don't believe he means to focus on a specific religion as he (and his wife) believed in Magic, esotericism and the occult. As for the rise of evil, I don't think you could say that this will be in place of "good" due to both being relative constructs depending on society and time (for example, on a general society level, it is no longer thought to be 'evil' to wear clothes made of both linen and wool or say the names of other gods yet were a stoning offence many years ago).
I remember studying this poem in college years ago and I still find it most interesting! Apparently, Yeats believed that The Second Coming of Christ would be accompanied by the greatest forces of sin and conclude with a titanic battle between the two forces. Our Lord Jesus would eventually prevail.
@@stephensimpson1613he did indeed, but I don’t think Trump or the Evangelicals are truly religious/ spiritual in the way Yeats meant. Rather I think they’re part of the “worst” and “full of passionate intensity.”
The Second Coming present with real form and condition of VALUE ADDED TAX. THE real form and condition of VALUE ADDED TAX IS THE BASE OF NEW ERA ALSO called NEW WORLD ORDER. THE SECOND COMING .....? is available with GLOBAL ECONOMICAL SOLUTION :-- VALUE ADDED TAX. The Second Coming + Value Added Tax = NEW WORLD ORDER.
Thank you for that wonderful explaination Sir❤🌹🙏. Adding a point : Can the (Vulutre/Eagle)Desert Bird be Symbolic to (Falcon) the one that is moving round and round and coming to a point at the bottom, the gyre that is described in the first stanza...?
We have to write an essay of 300 to 400 words about this poem for our exam. If we were to be able to turn this analysis into an essay would it suffice?
As people believed the war is coming to an end because of the war can the "Beast" be the "War Mongers"? and in that case who can be the Christ and bring peace?
Really useful analysis and well explained. I would also point out that while framing this poem solely in the context of the Great war (WW1) is useful, due to its knowledge being pretty much ubiquitous, it is incomplete. Yeats wrote this before/ during the Irish War of Independence and was a key theme in a lot of his other poems. Not only does he see the destruction and instability of the world, but it's even more heartfelt that he sees the violent discourse in his treasured homeland. Without going into much for the detail, Yeats had a complex relationship with Ireland and criticised the ideologies of leaders fighting for either outcome of the war (independence or remain tied to England) but in his later life took a position as a senator for the Irish Free State. Knowing this, I think it really emphasises the last 2 lines of the first stanza as a commentary to this Ireland, believing that the independence movements lacked public support ("best lack conviction") and the leaders too focused on their own political gain ("worst/ ... full of passionate intensity.")
I feel like it represents the death of the many young soldiers during the war. There 'innocence' and youth, was undermined and destroyed by a war that laid waste to their souls and left them with traumas that would never be forgotten.
I’ve wondered about this. Whether the ceremony of innocence was the bulk of humanity having genuinely innocent hearts or that our innocence was not real but empty ceremony and part of the reason that things have reached their end and brutal destruction is close at hand for all humanity.
@@tzaph67 "empty ceremony and part of the reason that things have reached their end and brutal destruction is close at hand for all humanity." Thank you so much for this enlightening thought...having in mind the real meaning of the word "ceremony"...(a formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol, or convention, a conventional act of politeness or etiquette, an action performed only formally with no deep significance..etc..) That is to say that the world hasn't believe in man's innocence per se , it was just a mimesis of innocence and the brutality of war is the sudden awakening on the edge of a tragic reality!
I have read this poem dozens of times over thirty years. Today I noticed for the first time that Yeats uses the word "loosed" twice, in successive lines. This looks like a gross error. Either he wrote it on the fly, off the cuff, and did not reread his final product; or why else such a breach of craft? Why indeed. Hmm 😒
![respecting beliefs | why we should do no such thing [cc]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/r_5yUXjXizQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I love this poem. I’ve been reading it for years and get something new out of it each time. I feel that humanity is the falcon, flying in an ever widening gyre, unable to hear the falconer, who represents either God or humanity’s soul or higher self.
The beast has brute strength in its body and intellect symbolised by the human head but no heart or soul.
The older I get, the more prophetic this poem feels to me.
Surele, today in America: "The best lack all conviction, while the the worst are full of passionate intensity"is as true a description of the state of affairs as can possibly be made.
perfectly described. I thought the same thing
I am 70years old and familiar with this poem. I believe the falconer is at the centre or the start, bottom of the gyre. The gyre is the flight pattern of the falcon which shows the falcon widening his circle and moving away from the centre, the falcon eventually is on its own and can’t hear the falconer chaos is set upon the people’s. There is no Mercy because we don’t love each other.
I have wandered on so many channels for the explaination of this particular one. But, this is d best one. Crystal clear
Thanks so much
I'm a Japanese high school student and I learned this poem at school.But it was so difficult to understand, so this video was so helpful for me!
Thank you for a great analysis.
Hey buddy, do you have any written summary or analysis of this?
I'm from Iraq , a country you probably haven't heard about it but we study this poem at university. That's a great analysis thank you so much for the effort.
of course we've heard of u!
I actually love you, I just learnt 3 periods worth of English class in this one video.
Seems like the gyre has only widened and has spun faster with intensity, it's still out of control. This poem is so relevant to current times.
Definitely.
Tomorrow I have a poetry exam and I hadn't understood this poem properly. But thanks to you now I have a solid background about it.
Saying if We dont stand up Now, We are Doomed haha, but seriously its time to Stand.............
Hey buddy, do you have any written summary or analysis of this?
Respected sir, I am watching your class at this time but i can't watch right now because firstly
I have to give you the great Thanks . Lots of love and respect from India I am the student of B.A. English literature but i can't get the clear idea after attending lecture from my professor. But i have cleared it very well by your amazing teaching style.
Thank you so much for the class
Hii! Me too, I'm in third year. This video was so helpful
WOW SIR, THIS IS INCREDIBLE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU.
Thank you. Glad it has been helpful!
An important part of this poem, to me, is the relationship of falcon/falconer. I see this as symbolic of people losing touch with founding principles. In our current times (crisis?) this is exemplified by ever-greater expansion of individuality, always pushing past the next taboo to make it mainstream.
Also, “the widening gyre” is symbolic of the falcon tiring. Dante mentions this in Inferno, Canto XVII-24… I’ve always wondered if Yeats is referring to this or if this is just a commonly used falcon trait. This “tiring” explains to me how “the best lack all conviction.”
Best ideas
Thanks for you analysis ! As a French person, I struggled a bit to understand well this poem and all its allusions/references 😅
Happy I could help 🙏
The greatest explanation of this poem I've heard so far, thank you!
Wow, thank you so much. I really appreciate the feedback.
Haven’t listened to your whole vid yet, but as soon as I heard your SA accent, I knew this analysis would be spiritually mature and thought provoking. Thank you for a beautiful recitation and sharing of valuable insights 🤗
What an amazing analysis .. Thank you so much!
Wow ! This was one the best interpretations of a poem I've ever seen !
Our instructor told that the falcon is referring to humans and the falconer is Jesus. The humans are moving away from the teaching of Jesus so that's why the falcon is not listening to the falconer.
Great! I'm so happy someone else has noted this point!
Thank you sir. Was hard to get this explain so well in understandable English👍🥳
Thank you very much Sir, it wasn't expected to be explained better than this.
Greetings from Turkey 🇹🇷
Wow! Can't believe this video has made it all the way to Turkey. Glad I could help
woke up today, August 18th 2022, with this poem in my head.
and what rough beast!
its hour come round at last
Sir, you're saving my life here. Thank you!
The best explanation i have seen for this poem
thanks alot
Thank you😍well explanatory, learnt alot
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you. This line by line analysis was a big help. Hope you are doing all other poems too.
Hey somia
I’m watching Black Earth Rising on Netflix. Heard the line “the center cannot hold” which lead me here. It’s interesting how your drawing distracted you yet perfectly illustrated meaning to me, a visual learner. Thank you for this review.
How awesome is that! You're welcome.
Thanks for the content.
One thing I'd add is besides WW1, Ireland's war of independence began in 1919 the year the poem was written.
I'm a Sri Lankan university student and i was in a big trouble with this poem. But your explanation was so simple and it helps me to get a better idea regarding the poem. Thank you so much sir
Well, I guess William is lucky, since he didn't have to witness what the world is going through right now when it comes to Gaza and all the terrorism that's happening nowadays, it's as if he was saved from having to see all of the continuation of what he mentioned in his poem, such a very well written poem, I am mind blown and thank you so much for your amazing elaboration of the poem aswell.
This was such an amazing analysis! Thank you for sharing💜
Glad you enjoyed it!
I really likes your ascent ❣️
This is helpful , I haven’t paid attention in English this year lol
🙏Thank you very much for the help. I now have an understanding of the poem.
Thank you Mr VR for wonderful explanation... keep going 🌿☁️
Thank you for your feedback and encouragement. Much appreciated!
Really liked the explanation
Sir the explanations of this poem you did is great.
How come you don't have a million views...
Tysm sir, I finally at least have a solid idea of what this poem I all about
This was the best video, understood the poem soo well. Thankyouuu
Glad you found the video helpful.👍🏻
Such a great explanation. Wish you were my teacher 😢
It might be added that falcons do "pyrne in a gyre" as Yeats would have it in another poem: That is, falcons turn in an ever widening spiral whilst they hunt and at the moment they spot prey, they abandon the "gyre" and drop straight down upon their victim.
Yewwww Mr van Niekerk. Good stuff. Would have liked to have had this back in school.
Well !! Explained
Thanks to you for your best possible interpretation!
Bless you.
Thank you so much!!
Lots of help. Thank you!
Loved the way you explained... tnx
This is so helpful! Thanks for you effort.❤️I’m a student from kurdistan ✌🏻
Really worthful, thank you so much sir🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Many thanks!
You're welcome!
Thank you sir for helping me understand this poem!! -from South Africa!
Very informative, thank you for the video!
Awesome. Thank you. Glad it helped.
Wow! The best analysis of the poem..thanks sir
thanks alot saving me in australia
It was very helpful 👌 thank you.
Love the drawings! Really helps with understanding the main ideas. thank you
2hours before the exam😅 thanks
😂👍
U r the best ever 😍 thank you sooo much
Thank you so much sir. So good
Thanks
This was really helpful thank you 🙂
Your way is great wow
AMAZING EXPLAINING
in the Book of Revelarion it says Christ will come back and in "righteousness he doth judge and make war" and that the oceans will turn to blood and rivers of blood will flow over the earth as high as a horse's bridle. could this be Yeats blood-dimmed tide?
Awesome review! Thank you sir!
Appreciate it.
Brilliant clarification. Thank you.
I'm very happy to hear the video has been helpful for you 👍🙏
The video was very helpful ,Thank you🙂
@@lehakwekawe1034 Awesome
Second coming of Men's Heart's. Rise my Brother's, or not, but its Time................
thank you very much it was very useful
Very good! Helped me so much! Thank you (watching from Brazil).
Thank you so much sir.
You deserve a ❤️ for this explanation. Understood very well 🙏🙏❤️🤗❤️🤗
Great analysis, I hope you can analyse more poems in the future.
Thank you sir❤️. it was very helpful
Glad it was helpful to you!
Really Nice 👌🏽
Great!
👍
Very much appreciated 🤞🔥
Thank you, sir - I am thinking about this poem as a psychotherapy trainee, and how the 'evil' is that which we cannot own in ourselves and project into the world. Wonderful analysis I'm grateful from London
Thank you!!
Finally I understood this!
Thank you sir!!
Thank you❤
When I first read this years ago, it sent chills down my spine - on some level I 'grasped' the horror, but your explanation has clarified why. Do you think Yeats was seeing the death of Christianity, and the rise of some evil belief system that might replace it? Some people have suggested Trump, but he is a dandelion puff next to the utterly pitiless, atheistic, materialistic and iron fisted men who would like to rule the world. Thoughts? And thank you for your interpretation!
Atheistic? Didn't Trump pander to the evangelicals? Jerusalem etc.
In my interpretation, his message for this poem and his belief in the gyres doesn't replace "good" for "evil", but an opposite for opposite in a never ending cycle.
In his other works (mainly "A Vision"), he further describes his belief in the gyres. Basically, to my understanding each gyre rotates towards a point of maximum expansion (like a tornado described on this video). However, he also believed there to be an an anti-helical grye (running in the opposite direction yet concurrently). If he believes that our history runs along one gyre, then the opposite gyre represents the opposite- a form of balance yet leading to the collapse of the other. Google Yeats Grye and on images you should see some visual ideas.
Therefore, in my interpretation of this poem and the gyres, I believe Yeats wasn't seeing the removal of 'Christianity' for evil (in your example), but the rise of something else- potentially Pagenism or even Naturalism- an opposite. For example, you could argue that he balances the idea of "Leda and the Swan"- a greek myth about Zeus transforming into a Swan to rape Leda- as the antithesis to the symbolic Dove and the Virgin Mary. Also, while Yeats grew up in a predominantly Christian society, I don't believe he means to focus on a specific religion as he (and his wife) believed in Magic, esotericism and the occult.
As for the rise of evil, I don't think you could say that this will be in place of "good" due to both being relative constructs depending on society and time (for example, on a general society level, it is no longer thought to be 'evil' to wear clothes made of both linen and wool or say the names of other gods yet were a stoning offence many years ago).
I remember studying this poem in college years ago and I still find it most interesting! Apparently, Yeats believed that The Second Coming of Christ would be accompanied by the greatest forces of sin and conclude with a titanic battle between the two forces. Our Lord Jesus would eventually prevail.
@@stephensimpson1613he did indeed, but I don’t think Trump or the Evangelicals are truly religious/ spiritual in the way Yeats meant. Rather I think they’re part of the “worst” and “full of passionate intensity.”
The Second Coming present with real form and condition of VALUE ADDED TAX.
THE real form and condition of VALUE ADDED TAX IS THE BASE OF NEW ERA ALSO called NEW WORLD ORDER.
THE SECOND COMING .....? is available with GLOBAL ECONOMICAL SOLUTION :-- VALUE ADDED TAX.
The Second Coming + Value Added Tax = NEW WORLD ORDER.
They want us to become their absolute slaves
Thank you for that wonderful explaination Sir❤🌹🙏.
Adding a point : Can the (Vulutre/Eagle)Desert Bird be Symbolic to (Falcon) the one that is moving round and round and coming to a point at the bottom, the gyre that is described in the first stanza...?
I suppose you could argue that there's a connection, but I wouldn't go that far.
look at what is going on in Jerusalem and u hit the nail on the head
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you
David.
Moses.
Bacchus.
The Pieta.
Michaelangelo was a sculptor.
We have to write an essay of 300 to 400 words about this poem for our exam. If we were to be able to turn this analysis into an essay would it suffice?
Sir, Please upload the page which you eradicate, It will be helpful for us.
What would you say the theme of this poem would be??
where could I find the copy text ?
Thanks a lot 🌹
Glad it has helped.
As people believed the war is coming to an end because of the war can the "Beast" be the "War Mongers"? and in that case who can be the Christ and bring peace?
Really useful analysis and well explained. I would also point out that while framing this poem solely in the context of the Great war (WW1) is useful, due to its knowledge being pretty much ubiquitous, it is incomplete. Yeats wrote this before/ during the Irish War of Independence and was a key theme in a lot of his other poems. Not only does he see the destruction and instability of the world, but it's even more heartfelt that he sees the violent discourse in his treasured homeland. Without going into much for the detail, Yeats had a complex relationship with Ireland and criticised the ideologies of leaders fighting for either outcome of the war (independence or remain tied to England) but in his later life took a position as a senator for the Irish Free State. Knowing this, I think it really emphasises the last 2 lines of the first stanza as a commentary to this Ireland, believing that the independence movements lacked public support ("best lack conviction") and the leaders too focused on their own political gain ("worst/ ... full of passionate intensity.")
Really good thank you!
I just have one question....what does the "Ceremony of innocence" represent?
I feel like it represents the death of the many young soldiers during the war. There 'innocence' and youth, was undermined and destroyed by a war that laid waste to their souls and left them with traumas that would never be forgotten.
I’ve wondered about this. Whether the ceremony of innocence was the bulk of humanity having genuinely innocent hearts or that our innocence was not real but empty ceremony and part of the reason that things have reached their end and brutal destruction is close at hand for all humanity.
@@tzaph67 "empty ceremony and part of the reason that things have reached their end and brutal destruction is close at hand for all humanity." Thank you so much for this enlightening thought...having in mind the real meaning of the word "ceremony"...(a formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol, or convention, a conventional act of politeness or etiquette, an action performed only formally with no deep significance..etc..) That is to say that the world hasn't believe in man's innocence per se , it was just a mimesis of innocence and the brutality of war is the sudden awakening on the edge of a tragic reality!
This poem has recent days relevance.
Have you channel on telegram?
Sir could you please explain In praise of limestone by WH Auden
you are the best
I have question , why he say "with A shape with lion body and the head of man" ?
referring to the greek sphinx
I have read this poem dozens of times over thirty years. Today I noticed for the first time that Yeats uses the word "loosed" twice, in successive lines. This looks like a gross error. Either he wrote it on the fly, off the cuff, and did not reread his final product; or why else such a breach of craft? Why indeed. Hmm 😒