This essay is the application of William Butler Yeats's idea of symbol to his poem "The Second Coming". In his "The Symbolism of Poetry", he distinguishes between two kinds of symbols. The emotional symbols evoke emotions, but intellectual symbols evoke ideas or ideas mingled with emotions. His preference is for the latter because it connotes a multiplicity of meanings. His symbols are the Great Wheel, the phases of the moon and the interpenetrating gyres of history. Yeats's symbols illustrate the fact that life is a conflict and without contraries there is no movement. The Christian era will soon give way to an era ruled by a desert beast that brings horror and destruction.
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