The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of First World War and beginning of the Irish War of Independence that followed the Easter Rising, at a time before the British decided to send in the Black and Tans to Ireland.
‘The Second Coming’ by WB Yeats would readily recommend itself to any list of landmark 20th C poetry. The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of First World War and beginning of the Irish War of Independence that followed the Easter Rising, at a time before the British decided to send in the Black and Tans to Ireland. Wide usage of phrases drawn from the poem such as, ‘the centre cannot hold’, ‘the widening gyre’, ‘the falcon cannot hear the falconer’, ‘the best lack all conviction whilst the worst are full of passionate intensity’ et all attest to the poem’s enduring influence and popularity.