Poem · 1919
The Second Coming
W. B. Yeats
Aya Saleh · Ink & Ivy
Poem · 1919 · Irish · Modern
The Second Coming
The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
LyricProphecyHistoryViolenceProphecy
Reading edition
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How to read it
Twenty-two lines that have supplied a century of headlines. Its power is rhythmic dread, not doctrine — the gyres are scaffolding, the beast is the poem.
Whole-work summary
The falcon cannot hear the falconer.
