Yeats poem called the Second Coming...whats your opinion?

Question

as far as i'm concerned it's about the second coming of Christ adn it's talking about the sphinx in the second half there and how that's like the end of the world, and the birds are the non christians trying to stop it but they can't, cuz wen Christ returns he will be pitiless, and that 2000 yr stony sleep is would be God putting up with world for that long. adn then the last few lines are about the anti christ who comes in after the rapture and he is a mimicer of christ so he'll probably be born in Bethlehem.

i hoping that all makes sense.

but i wanna hear other ppls views

so pls feel free to share!

Answer 1

I'd say that I agree with that; and the symbolism really would match the Revelation... Eerie.

Answer 2

There is religious imagery in the poem, but it is also historical. It has to be read in relation to what was happening in Europe at the time when Yeats wrote it (the rise of fascism, the end of an era...). Yeats saw history as a series of cycle. He was not religious in the strict sense, but his poetry contained religious metaphors, such as here.