Criticism

Jeffares, A. Norman. "The Second Coming." In Ë New Commentary on the Poems of W. B. Yeats, pp. 201-07. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1984.

Reprints Yeats's philosophical annotation to "The Second Coming" and glosses the text of the poem.

Mazzaro, Jerome L. "The Second Coming." The Explicator XVI, No. 1 (October 1957): item 6.

Views the falcon in Yeats's poem as an "implicit symbol of the chaos described in subsequent lines and related genetically to the image of the sphinx."

Stallworthy, Jon. "The Second Coming." Agenda 9, No. 4 (Autumn 1971): 24-33.

Examines historical references and developments in symbolism suggested by early manuscript versions of "The Second Coming." Stallworthy concludes his analysis by viewing the poem's relationship to Yeats's "A Prayer for My Daughter."

Van Doren, Mark. "The Second Coming." In Introduction to Poetry, pp. 80-85. New York: William Sloane Associates, Inc., 1951.

Explication of "The Second Coming" that emphasizes the coming of change and the horror of the poem's second section.

The following sources published by Gale contain additional coverage of Yeats's life and career: Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography, 1890-1914; Contemporary Authors, Vols. 104, 127; Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, Vol. 45; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 10, 19, 98, 156; Discovering Authors; Major 20th-century Writers, Vol. 1; Poetry Criticism, Vol. 20; and World Literature Criticism.