In moments of profound crisis—whether caused by war, political upheaval, or widespread disease—the responsibility of the artist becomes deeply contested. Early twentieth-century Modernism grappled intensely with this question. Some writers believed the poet must bear witness to suffering, speaking directly from the site of violence, while others argued that poetry should preserve timeless truths by maintaining distance from immediate political demands.
This blog examines W. B. Yeats’s response to catastrophe through two of his most significant poems, On Being Asked for a War Poem and The Second Coming. Drawing on recent critical approaches, particularly the theory of Viral Modernism, the discussion moves beyond conventional political interpretations to explore how personal loss, bodily vulnerability, and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic informed Yeats’s apocalyptic imagery. The study concludes by addressing a major divide in modern literary history: the contrast between Yeats’s philosophy of aesthetic detachment and Wilfred Owen’s raw, ethical commitment to exposing the “pity of war.”
Here are some videos for discussion-
The transcript reinterprets W. B. Yeats’s “The Second Coming” by looking at it from multiple angles and showing why the poem still feels meaningful today. It begins by placing the poem in the troubled atmosphere of the early twentieth century, a time marked by the aftermath of the First World War and political unrest in Ireland. These events created a sense of instability and fear that strongly influenced Yeats’s vision.
The discussion then moves to a religious and mythological interpretation. It refers to biblical ideas of apocalypse and renewal and explains Yeats’s belief in Spiritus Mundi, a collective store of images and symbols from which poets draw. Through this lens, the poem’s frightening images suggest the collapse of an old world order and the uncertain birth of a new one.
Most importantly, the transcript adds a fresh, modern viewpoint by connecting the poem to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. At the time Yeats was writing the poem, his pregnant wife nearly died from the virus, which makes the poem’s images of sickness, drowning, and uncontrollable destruction especially striking. The speaker suggests that the “rough beast” can be read not only as a political or spiritual symbol, but also as a metaphor for the terrifying spread of disease.
By comparing this historical pandemic to the recent COVID-19 crisis, the transcript argues that “The Second Coming” captures a universal experience of fear, chaos, and loss during times of global health disasters. This idea of “viral modernism” becomes a third important context—alongside politics and religion—for understanding why the poem continues to evoke a powerful sense of dread and uncertainty even in the present day.
The lecture transcript analyzes W. B. Yeats’s brief poem “On Being Asked for a War Poem,” composed in 1915 during the First World War. It explains that Yeats deliberately rejects the idea of writing patriotic or propaganda-style poetry. According to the poem, artists should stay silent during times of war because they lack the power to influence or change the decisions made by political leaders.
The lecture also points out the strong irony in the poem. Although Yeats argues that poets should not interfere in political matters, he paradoxically does so by writing a poem that expresses this refusal. In this way, his act of silence becomes a subtle form of political involvement.
In addition, the discussion offers important biographical and historical background. Yeats’s position as an Irish nationalist made him unwilling to support Britain’s war effort. His political beliefs and national identity pushed him toward neutrality, which helps explain both his refusal to write a war poem and the critical tone of the work.
1.1 On Being Asked for a War Poem (1915)
This six-line poem was written by W. B. Yeats during the early phase of the First World War and reflects his refusal to turn poetry into political propaganda.
Refusal as Meaningful Action:
Although Yeats claims that a poet should remain silent during wartime, he paradoxically conveys this idea through a poem itself. His act of refusal becomes a form of expression, turning silence into a powerful moral stance.
Poet and Politician:
Yeats clearly separates the role of the poet from that of the statesman. He argues that poets possess no authority to guide political decisions, especially during war when nationalist rhetoric overwhelms the subtle and personal truths that poetry offers.
Irony and Political Distance:
As an Irish nationalist, Yeats felt no obligation to support the British Empire through patriotic verse. Instead, he suggests that poets should focus on enduring human experiences such as youth, aging, and wisdom—subjects that remain meaningful beyond political conflict.
1.2. The Second Coming (1919)
Written in the aftermath of World War I and amid revolutionary upheavals in Ireland and Russia, The Second Coming stands as one of the most influential modernist poems of the twentieth century.
Images of Collapse:
The poem opens with the symbol of the “widening gyre,” representing a world losing balance and control. The image of the falcon unable to hear the falconer illustrates the breakdown of moral and social authority, where “the centre cannot hold.”
Spiritus Mundi:
Yeats draws on the idea of a universal or collective memory from which a terrifying vision emerges—a Sphinx-like creature with a human head and a lion’s body, characterized by its cold and merciless gaze.
Pandemic Interpretation:
A modern critical reading connects the poem’s dark imagery, particularly the “blood-dimmed tide,” to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. During this time, Yeats’s pregnant wife was gravely ill, a personal crisis that likely intensified the poem’s atmosphere of fear, suffering, and drowning.
The Bethlehem Vision:
The poem concludes by overturning Christian expectations. Instead of Christ’s redemptive birth, Yeats imagines a “rough beast” moving toward Bethlehem, symbolizing the birth of a violent and ominous new historical age.
Here is the Hindi Podcast of The Second Coming and On Being Asked for a War Poem- Pandemic and War Poems-
Brief Note and Understanding of the Podcast
The podcast offers an innovative reinterpretation of W. B. Yeats’s poetry by combining conventional literary criticism with Elizabeth Outka’s concept of Viral Modernism. This approach broadens Yeats’s work beyond political and historical readings, revealing how biological crisis, personal fear, and collective trauma shaped his poetic vision.
2.1. Silence as a Form of Resistance (On Being Asked for a War Poem)
The podcast explains that in 1915, during the First World War, Yeats was urged by fellow writers to contribute a patriotic poem to a charity anthology intended to support war refugees.
Interpretation:
Yeats’s refusal was not merely an aesthetic choice but a deliberate political position. As an Irish nationalist living under British rule, he could not morally align himself with the British Empire by producing war propaganda. His silence therefore becomes an ethical and ideological act rather than an absence of engagement.
Contemporary Relevance:
The podcast draws a parallel with present-day social media culture, where individuals are often pressured to take immediate political positions. Yeats’s decision to remain silent is presented as a way of preserving artistic honesty and personal integrity in the face of ideological pressure.
2.2. The Idea of a Biological Apocalypse (The Second Coming)
While The Second Coming (1919) is typically read as a response to the political chaos following World War I, the podcast introduces a disturbing but persuasive alternative context: the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.
Personal Context:
At the time of writing, Yeats’s wife, Georgie, was pregnant and critically ill with influenza. The podcast highlights that pregnant women faced extremely high mortality rates during the pandemic, making Yeats’s sense of fear and collapse deeply personal.
Reinterpreting the Imagery:
The phrase “blood-dimmed tide” is re-read not only as a metaphor for war but as a literal description of the flu’s effects, where victims often suffocated due to internal bleeding. The drowning of “innocence” may symbolically reflect Yeats’s anxiety for his unborn child and his wife’s survival.
The Rough Beast:
Rather than representing only political tyranny, the “rough beast” is interpreted as the virus itself—an unseen, merciless force without motive or conscience, unlike human agents of war.
2.3. Final Reflection on the Podcast
The podcast concludes that Yeats’s poetry remains compelling because it expresses collapse on multiple levels—political, spiritual, and biological. By removing specific historical references from early drafts, Yeats transformed his poems into universal expressions of crisis. As a result, works like The Second Coming resonate as powerfully during modern pandemics and global instability as they did in the early twentieth century.
3. Yeats and Wilfred Owen: Two Responses to Catastrophe
The contrast between W. B. Yeats and Wilfred Owen reveals a fundamental divide in literary responses to crisis. Though both poets are Modernists, they embody opposing views of art—as either a timeless sanctuary or a moral instrument of witness.
1. W. B. Yeats: The Ethics of Detachment
For Yeats, the poet functions as a distant observer who seeks to rise above immediate political chaos in order to grasp enduring historical patterns.
Silence as Integrity:
In On Being Asked for a War Poem, Yeats argues that poets lack the authority to correct political leaders. His silence is a conscious refusal to reduce poetry to political propaganda.
Cyclical History:
Through his theory of the Gyres, Yeats viewed World War I as part of an inevitable historical cycle. Because he understood war as a mystical and historical necessity, emotional protest appeared to him incompatible with the dignity of high art.
Modernist Distance:
Yeats maintained a protective distance from battlefield realities, choosing instead to focus on themes such as youth, aging, and spiritual wisdom.
2. Wilfred Owen: Poetry as Moral Witness
In direct contrast, Wilfred Owen represents the poet as a participant and witness to suffering.
The Reality of War:
Owen exposes the physical and psychological horrors of combat, dismantling romantic notions of heroism. In Dulce et Decorum Est, he immerses the reader in the choking terror of a gas attack.
Poetry as Ethical Force:
Owen’s belief that “the Poetry is in the pity” reflects his conviction that poets must testify to suffering and challenge political deception.
Immediate Engagement:
Unlike Yeats’s controlled silence, Owen’s poetry is urgent and confrontational, collapsing the distance between the civilian reader and the soldier’s experience.
Conclusion
The comparison between Yeats and Owen highlights two essential literary responses to catastrophe. Yeats, as the distant observer, uses silence, symbolism, and philosophical distance to preserve the sanctity of art. Owen, as the trench witness, employs graphic realism to expose suffering and provoke moral awareness.
Whether confronting the violence of war or the invisible devastation of a pandemic, these poets demonstrate that literature can either shelter timeless truths or serve as a powerful weapon of testimony. In a world where “things fall apart,” their contrasting voices remain vital guides for understanding human crisis.
Creative activity
When the World Feels Unsteady....
The world keeps spinning faster now,
But no one holds the rope.
Voices shout from every side,
Yet meaning feels remote.
The center cannot stay firm,
Things slip out of hand.
News replaces truth with noise
Across every land.
Children learn the sound of fear
Before they learn to dream.
The old rules crack, the future shakes,
Nothing is as it seems.
Something new is coming close,
We feel it in the air.
Not born of love or hope or faith,
But shaped by neglect and fear.
The cycle turns, the warning stands,
History speaks once more.
If we do not stop and listen now,
We may lose what came before.
Reflection of the poem
This poem reflects the fear and confusion of the modern world during a global crisis. It shows how people feel lost because the world is changing too fast and no one seems to be in control. Like Yeats’s poetry, the poem suggests that the “center” of society—values, truth, and stability—has become weak.
The poem also shows how history moves in cycles. Problems such as war, fear, and disorder do not disappear but return in new forms. Children growing up in this environment inherit fear instead of hope, which highlights the seriousness of the crisis.
The warning tone of the poem is inspired by Yeats’s prophetic style. It suggests that a new future is coming, but it may not be a positive one if people remain careless and divided. Overall, the poem reflects modern anxiety, loss of direction, and the need to understand and respond before things fall apart.
