For this post, explain why Yeats makes an allusion to the sphinx in "The Second Coming." Pay close attention to these lines (but feel free to refer to any others you feel may be relevant):
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
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| Egyptian Sphinx |
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| Greek Sphinx |
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| Oedipus solving the riddle of the Sphinx |
Spinx can be the symbol of essence of the Greek or Egypt period,usually dealing with religious beliefs. However ,in this poem I believe the poem is referring to the book of Revelations 4:7. " The first living creature was like a lion ...the third having a face like a man." The poem gives many references on the biblical end of the world. In conclusion,the sphinx seems to me a warning of the arrival of Christ. "Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" -Mallory Moore
ReplyDeleteThe Sphinx is a huge mythical creature. In the ancient Greek and Egyptian cultures they were used to intimidate others, and to them is a sign of strength and superiority. This poem is talking about a rapture of some sort and describing the end of the world in an awful and terrifying way. The sphinx in this poem represents something completely ghastly in the middle of an empty dessert and is supposed to leave you with an unsettling feeling.
ReplyDelete-Eden Schmoll
In the line "A shape with lion body and the head of a man," is the allusion of Sphinx, along with "A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun," as if you have a visual of Egypt and because its so hot and dry out there from our understandings, those lines create the allusion of heat as well. What Yeats is doing is taking us back in time with all the allusions and imagery that is going on throughout the poem. As if we are traveling back into the past life into a different country. -Montzerrath Rodriguez
ReplyDeleteI think Yeats makes an allusion to the sphinx in his “The Second Coming” poem because the sphinx is actually a relation to Eypgtion Mythology. It was a mythical beast that had the head of a man and the body of a lion, just as described in the poem.He also talks about the lion body with the human head being in the desert sands just like the Sphinx is in Egypt.
ReplyDeleteI think Yeats made this allusion because once upon a time there was a world, civilization in Egypt where the sphinx lies and he is saying thats how the world will be once its over. Large ruins of what used to be.
Audrena Harlan
The Sphinx was used as a guardian to protect the tombs from the Egyptian and Greek tradition. Also, it was used to make people terrified occurring to myths. Yeats makes an allusion of the Sphinx because maybe once when the Second Coming occurs, we will be frightened and it will be a dark end of the world as people who thought of the Sphinx as some hunter. When the Second Coming comes, the Sphinx will be the only thing there. I think Yeats uses the imagery of the Sphinx to make us compare the end of the world to the myth stories on the Sphinx.
ReplyDelete- Houa Lee
The sphinx is seen as a guardian to royal tombs and religious temples. According to myth the sphinx would only allow those worthy enough to enter the temple it protected. The sphinx would determine a persons worthiness based on the ability to answer a riddle. Those unable to answer the riddle were devoured by the beast. I believe Yeats makes an allusion to the sphinx because the concept of the second coming seems very similar. The idea behind the second coming is that those worthy enough to enter the holy kingdom will be removed from earth, while the unworthy will remain on earth. The people left on earth will remain on the planet to suffer. The worthy will gain entrance to the temple while the unworthy will suffer.
ReplyDelete-Julian Ibarra
A sphinx is seen as vast image of the Spiritus Mundi, or the collective spirit of mankind. A shape with lion body and the head of a man.Sphinx make become terrified so I feel Yeats compared it to the second coming by saying people should be scared because they have not seen what can happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe Sphinx represents two types of power, one from the lion and one from the man. Lions are considered apex predators meaning that nothing naturally hunts them. This shows their power in the world and more importantly their enormous strength in nature. Man is considered to be a highly intellectual being. Therefore they can think freely and pass judgement on others of their kind. Man is also an apex predator, which shows us the strength in men as well. This shows that Yeats wants the Sphinx to represent strength, intellect, and power. Yeats also wants the Sphinx to represent mystery. In this poem "the second coming" means something dark and mysterious. Possibly a figure coming at the end of the world, like an Antichrist. This figure could pass judgement on those who have sinned and is a supremely powerful being. There is definitely biblical allusions in this poem and lots of ambiguity of the end. -Kelsey Wruck
ReplyDeleteThe sphinx represented kingship to the ancient Egyptians. Yeats’ work is describing an end that is approaching so those involved need to be prepared. However, the sphinx represents an almighty power so although an end is near, a king of some sort will perform the “Second Coming” just as Yeats wrote "Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
ReplyDelete-Brianna Bravo
During the time of the pharaohs, the sphinx represented vast power, intelligence, and the ability to kill off people who were not allowed in the city. Yeats alludes to the sphinx to construct an image of a beast who will judge people during the Second Coming.
ReplyDelete-Jessica Cruz
The sphinx was a symbol of nobility for the Egyptians and was often constructed with a face of a ruler. Yeats seems to use the allusion of a sphinx to express his concern of who will rise as the leaders of the world as the text takes place after the first world war. It seems as though he fears a "rough beast" to become a ruler after the devastating war.
ReplyDelete-Gustavo Hernandez
The sphinx was a very important symbol to the Egyptians many years ago, it represents strength because it is all powerful. I believe that it represents God, because God is all powerful, it also represents the end of the world.
ReplyDelete-Alec Daily
I believe that Yeats makes the allusion of the Sphinx in his poem "The Second Coming" because when he thinks about the second coming he pictures it being in the sand of the deserts and seeing "A shape with lion body and the head of a man" which is know as the Sphinx, a mythical beast in the ancient Egyptian period. Also I believe Yeats makes the allusion of the Sphinx because it's a great statue that was built centuries ago that still stands but in the poem it says "Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds", now when they say desert birds they usually mean vultures, and when they fly in circles it mean that they think something will die soon and I took that as all great things must come to a end to create new life.
ReplyDelete-Sergio Mendez
The Spinks is a large lion with the head of a human, and represents power. In Greek and Egyptian cultures it was also a symbol of fear, and is said to terrorize people and demand and answer to a riddle. Yeats uses the Spinks as an allusion to the fear of what is yet to come in the second coming of Jesus. It also makes an allusion to the bible, the description of the Spinks in the desert alludes to the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. The Jewish people were held together in the desert of Egypt until Moses freed them.
ReplyDelete-Patricia Vargas
Focusing on Egyptian sphinxes, they represented great power and were thought to have been guardians into the afterlife; hence they were normally, if not always, placed at the entrance of the pyramids. I believe Yeats was using the image of a sphinx to symbolize the spiritual connection with the second coming—the second coming being the biblical foretelling of the return of Christ. He uses the sphinx almost as if it were the needle of a compass: the ‘vast image of Spiritus Mundi’ (which literally translates to ‘spirit of the world’) acting as the face of the compass, the sphinx acting as the needle, and Bethlehem acting as North. In addition to the ‘compass theory’, Yeats also says, ‘twenty centuries of stony sleep’; I believe Yeats was trying to give a time and place when the second coming is going to happen. When added all together, supposedly, Christ should be returning 2000 years after the poem’s creation (or perhaps when the sphinx was built) and He will make His first appearance in Bethlehem, his original birth place.
ReplyDelete-Jayme Reyna
Yeats alludes to the sphinx to create irony. He talks about the "second coming," which is usually an allusion to the second coming of Christ, but actually describes it as "a shape with lion body and the head of a man." This is a metaphor for the end of human society/culture. Yeats says that a time will come when we all will lose our humanity and he wonders what will happen when that time does come.
ReplyDelete~Stephanie Larson
"A shape with lion body and a head of a man." I believe that the reason that the poet chose this particular verse was to show how powerful yet intelligent this sphinx is. A sphinx represented great power in Egyptian times hence why the poet chose to use this description. Lions are head of the jungle yet man is head of all. The author shows that the second coming is related to the coming of Christ and how he will rule ALL.
ReplyDeleteElleyse Williams
In the poem "The second coming" Yeats uses allusion to the sphinx to symbolize the rise and fall of Egypt. The sphinx is a Greek mythical creature that represents power and authority. I think that the poem refers to the end of world as we know it. In the line “Troubles my sight; a waste of desert sand;”, Yeats refers to how everything will go to waste and there will be nothing left.
ReplyDeleteMartha Martinez
Believers of Greek Mythology can relate to the description of the Sphinx. According to myth legend, the Sphinx was a wise, powerful, and prideful creature who took her own life because a human solved her riddle (Encyclopedia Britannica). “The Second Coming” ties in the Sphinx by predicting its rising from the desert to claim what was once hers. The Sphinx could “rise from the dead”, have the fierceness and power of a lion with the intelligence of a human. Yeats combines both the Christian belief with mythology by mentioning Bethlehem, the place where the Son of God was born, a place which had desert characteristics.
ReplyDelete- Vanessa Caudelaro
I think that Yeats makes the allusion to the sphinx because it is a creature that passes judgement and when the end of the world does come around, all will be judged by a powerful being. I also think that the thought of a statue sphinx coming alive and moving around is terrifying and shows how horrifying and violent the end of the world will be.
ReplyDelete~Tina Tafoya
I feel that the Sphinx represents ozymiandiass' power and influence. when he died and his society began to crumble, just like the Sphinx, so did his power and influence with it.
ReplyDelete-Kamen Sarratt
In my opinion, Yeats refers to the sphinx in a biblical sense. Jeremiah 32:20 reads "You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day." In the poem, this relic lies in ruin. I feel this may represent the lost faith of the Traveler as his world comes to an end.
ReplyDelete-Steven Carlson
I think that the poet uses the allusion of the sphinx because people think that it was made to represent a king. Kings or pharos would watch over their kingdoms with power.
ReplyDeleteThe sphinx is the guardian who protects the tombs of Egypt and Greek Tradition. The Sphinx is mythicized as ruthless and whomever did not recite the riddle would die.Yeats makes an allusion with the Sphinx because when the second coming happens God is going to be the one who judges whether a person is ready to live eternal life in heaven and whomever is not ready will stay on earth to die.
ReplyDeleteVictoria Din
The sphinx is a creature that evokes fear and symbolizes dark power and death. Its mention in Yeats' poem may indicate a message that darker times are on their way. A time of death and fear may be looming. Similar to the riddle of the sphinx, which if left unanswered leads to a terrible fate, Yeats may be claiming that if this time of fear is left unanswered, it will be the end of man. - Juan Ruiz
ReplyDeleteThe allusion to the Sphinx Yeats makes in 'The Second Coming' is done so almost ironically. The Sphinx is the guardian of the after life to which there is no chance for resurrection. Almost mocking the idea of eternal salvation and that humanity can be saved. That once this life is over there's no coming back, will forever be guarded by that reality.
ReplyDelete- EliasTeutimez
Yeats makes an allusion to the sphinx because in ancient Egyptian beliefs, the sphinx, which is a human-headed lion, represents power. But I also think this allusion relates to the one in the Bible. In the book of Revelations chapter 4 verse 7 it says, “The first creature was like a lion…the third creature had a face like that of a man…” and these creatures the Bible speaks about are surrounding a throne, which indicates power as well. The poem “The Second Coming” brings about Bible passages and Egyptian beliefs in order to talk about the end of power within the human civilization, and that someone greater, like God, will come and end a total civilization to begin a new cycle of life with no thirst for greed, power, and violence.
ReplyDeleteThe allusion is during the ancient Egyptian times some people they would view the sphinx as evil. While some viewed them totally different. Believing they had so much power and can do whatever they please. A lion is know as the "King of the Jungle" that gets their way because of how fearless and strong each lion is. With a sphinx having a head of a human, together symbolizes much more such as destruction. The sphinx in this story can be viewed in many different ways.
ReplyDelete-Elmer Zelaya
DeleteI think the Allusion of the phinx relates to his views on the world. Whenever he thinks of the Spirit of the World (Spiritus Mundi), he is reminded of the ancient technologies (Sphinx) and the Knowledge of the ancient world that are now lost, and of which only ruins remain. He mentions the second coming in his poem, which to me also relates to the spirit of the world, and the sphinx. He sees the second coming as an end of the current technological advances( which at his time was war) and knowledge.
ReplyDelete-Andreina Solorio
Sphinx in the short text is described as "A shape with lion body and the head of a man." Yeats is creating a vivd imagery of Sphinx; an allusion of a Greek and Egyptian Sphinx known as the protector. "The Second Coming is at hand." Yeats is creating the beast image of whose to come. The tone Yeats creates is dark and gives an allusion of Sphinx as a symbol of evil in the world. "The second coming," foreshadowing destruction is awaiting among society. The end of the world.
ReplyDeleteNorma Pedraza
In the poem I believe that "The Second Coming" is a bad thing. The order of things is reversed, such as Jesus being born in Bethlehem is made into "slouches into Bethlehem to be born". So the sphinx who used to represent knowledge, from solving riddles and protect of tombs, now represents the fall of a higher intellect and no protection from a higher power.
ReplyDelete-Chynna Hook
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYeats makes an allusion to the sphinx in order to create and show the intense and high amount of power the Seconding Coming has. A sphinx is a guardian that was viewed as benevolent, yet ferocious similar to the Second Coming, which is an event or movement that is enlightening and very powerful.
ReplyDeleteAriene Edith Gregorio
According to Greek Mythology, the sphinx was a monster flying about, telling a riddle about mankind and killing those who couldnt solve it. Perhaps, Yeats alludes to the sphinx, using it as a symbol of man's inability to understand man. If we cannot understand ourselves and each other, that will be the end of our world regardless if a savior comes or not.
ReplyDelete-clarissa cano
Yeats makes an allusion to the sphinx in this short text to take us back to an Egyptian time period. In the line before and the line after he describes the sphinx he describes a desert land. He wants us to imagine being in the desert seeing the sphinx. I believe he does this because their civilization ended so he is trying to remind us that this can happen to us too. He makes the sphinx seem bad instead of seeming helpfully like it was to the Egyptians.
ReplyDelete-Rebecca Caraker
When researching the sphinx you find that this mythological creature has been used mainly in Egyptian and Greek Mythology, but since Yeats says “sands of the desert” we assume that he is speaking for the Egyptian mythological creature. According to Egyptologist Henry Fischer he suggests that the sphinx form has a divine importance meaning “the link between mankind and the gods.”, and this is why kings of Egypt had their faces placed onto this loin bodies. If we look at the next line Yeats says “ A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun” this visual imagery gives us the idea that this creature has bad intentions. Maybe Yeats was saying that mankind with all of it power of destruction felt as if they were gods. But, all that power would come at the cost of the end of us all.
ReplyDelete-Alfred Flores
In the poem "The Second Coming" I believe Yeats uses the sphinx as a symbol to stress that even though the sphinx might have the power of a lion and wings of greatness, it wont be able to save people from the second coming. Perhaps the sphinx is a sign of hope (of survival) to an already lost society that knows their world is coming to an end.
ReplyDelete-Dalia Pardo
I looked up William Butler Yeats and discovered that he believed that people could have supernatural or psychic connections with other people. In other words they were capable of sharing thoughts and memories with one another telepathically. I kept that in mind while reading the poem.
ReplyDeleteWe know that the poem was written after World War I which proved to be a very violent and destructive war. The title of the poem itself is an allusion to the second coming of Jesus/Christ from the Bible. So, the speaker seems to feel like the world has been in this state of peril, and that surely "The Second Coming" must be the reason why. However, the speakers tone changes almost in an instant and he seems to have an epiphany, or possibly a telepathic connection with someone, of a sphinx that is in an empty, deserted desert. For Egyptians the sphinx is a symbol of protection, even holiness. Perhaps, Yeats makes an allusion to the sphinx because it was a symbol of protection and yet there is nothing surrounding it any longer. It was unable to protect the people who created it. Maybe, the speaker in that moment realizes that Jesus being a holy symbol will result in the same fate. That "The Second Coming" is not in fact coming.
~Madison Alaine Tingey
I believe Butler used the verse "A shape with lion body and the head of a man," is to use as a reference of the the mythological creature the " sphinx" which was believed had supernatural powers. He used this verse to speak of a man who was probably very powerful, because a lion is the king of the jungle and the man is a powerful being as we'll it create a very very powerful person and that is why Yeats makes this allusion
ReplyDelete-Ruby Tenorio
I have found a smilie "the thick unlighted candles of the redwoods snuffed in advanced. On the ocean floor they lie like hands of a broken clock." It compares the candles of the redwoods to the hands of a broken clock.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting and informative
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