Symbols and Themes in Yeats'

Symbols and themes are objects or people that reoccur throughout a story to make the reader think. As the symbols reoccur throughout the story, the readers make connections from those symbols and relate them to the actions and personalities of each character. In William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," the use of symbolism helps to extend the meaning of the story, drawing the reader in. For example, the "falcon" and its flight represents the spiraling down of human society, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer; things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world."By explaining that this "falcon" is falling down, the Second Coming gains its purpose for the survival of the world and mankind. Also the "Spiritus Mundi" represents the "soul of the world," as Yeats reveals it as desperate for the Second Coming.