William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming,” penned in 1919 amidst the profound disarray of post-World War I Europe and the reverberations of the Russian Revolution, stands as a seminal work of modernist poetry. It masterfully encapsulates a deep-seated apprehension about the unraveling of established order and the impending birth of a terrifying new reality. The poem resonates with a powerful, almost prophetic, voice, articulating not merely a political or social commentary but a cosmic and metaphysical vision of history’s relentless, cyclical march. It reflects Yeats’s personal philosophy, meticulously developed in his complex mystical system outlined in “A Vision,” where history is not linear progression but an oscillation between opposing forces, an interplay of “gyres.”
The lines “but now I know / That twenty centuries of stony sleep / Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle” represent the chilling heart of Yeats’s apocalyptic prophecy. They condense his intricate historical schema into a few stark, unforgettable images, revealing the paradox of creation and destruction, and the inherent seeds of decay within every epoch. These lines serve as a pivotal turning point in the poem, transitioning from the initial portrayal of a world spiraling into chaos (“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”) to an explanation of this breakdown through the lens of a profound historical shift, marking the violent end of one age and the terrifying advent of another.
The Collapse of an Epoch: "Twenty Centuries of Stony Sleep"
To fully grasp the gravitas of “twenty centuries of stony sleep,” it is essential to contextualize it within Yeats’s unique historical framework, primarily articulated in his esoteric text, “A Vision.” In this philosophical work, Yeats posited that human history unfolds in approximately 2000-year cycles, or “gyres,” each characterized by dominant spiritual and psychological traits. The “twenty centuries” explicitly refers to the Christian era, spanning roughly from the birth of Christ to Yeats’s contemporary moment. For Yeats, this was the era defined by the influence of Christ’s incarnation and the subsequent rise of Western civilization, structured around Christian dogma, morality, and unified belief systems.
The phrase “stony sleep” is remarkably evocative and multi-layered. “Stony” suggests rigidity, immobility, coldness, and perhaps a certain petrification or ossification. It implies a period where thought, spirit, or progress had become fixed, unyielding, and perhaps even spiritually inert. This “sleep” is not necessarily peaceful slumber but a state of suspended animation, a dormancy that might have been perceived as stability or even spiritual enlightenment from within, but which, from a Yeatsian perspective, contained an inherent lack of dynamic life. It could signify the rigid dogmatism of the Church, the unyielding structures of imperial power, or the calcification of European civilization into a predictable, perhaps complacent, pattern. This “stony sleep” represents the slow, deliberate unfolding of a “Primary” or “Objective” gyre in Yeats’s scheme—a phase characterized by an outward-looking, communal, moralistic, and objective impulse, where truth is perceived as external and universally accessible. The Christian era, with its emphasis on a singular God, codified laws, and the collective salvation of humanity, perfectly fit this description.
However, the “stony” quality also implies a certain spiritual dullness, a lack of vibrant, subjective life that Yeats, as a poet and mystic, valued deeply. The fixed nature of this period, while perhaps orderly, also meant a suppression of the more chaotic, individualistic, and imaginative forces that Yeats associated with the “Antithetical” gyre—the counter-force that would eventually come to dominate. Thus, the “stony sleep” is not merely a description of duration but a critique of the era’s spiritual stagnation or its adherence to an over-reliance on reason and external authority, leading to a state of being that was fundamentally uncreative or uninspired in Yeats’s view. It suggests a civilization that had settled into its patterns, losing its initial revolutionary fervor and becoming increasingly set in its ways, preparing itself, unwittingly, for the dramatic upheaval that would follow.
The Catalyst of Change: "Vexed to Nightmare by a Rocking Cradle"
The shift from “stony sleep” to “vexed to nightmare” by a “rocking cradle” introduces the profound paradox at the core of Yeats’s historical philosophy. The word “vexed” suggests disturbance, agitation, or torment, implying that the “stony sleep” was not simply ending but being actively troubled and disrupted. The passive construction “were vexed” hints at an internal, inevitable process; the Christian era was not just externally attacked but internally agitated by the very forces it either generated or suppressed. The “nightmare” is the terrifying manifestation of this agitation, signifying a period of chaos, horror, and profound disorientation that accompanies the dissolution of the old order. It is the psychological and spiritual state of humanity caught between two great cycles, experiencing the violent birth pangs of the new while the familiar world crumbles.
The image of the “rocking cradle” is pregnant with symbolic ambiguity and immense power. At first glance, a cradle is a symbol of birth, innocence, and new beginnings. However, its association with “nightmare” immediately subverts this expectation, transforming it into an ominous harbinger. There are two primary, interconnected interpretations of what this “rocking cradle” represents, both crucial to understanding Yeats’s vision:
Firstly, the most direct interpretation is that the “rocking cradle” refers to the birth of Jesus Christ, which inaugurated the Christian era—the very “twenty centuries of stony sleep.” This interpretation is deeply ironic and central to Yeats’s cyclical view. It implies that the seeds of the Christian era’s eventual dissolution were sown at its very inception. The event that brought peace and a new spiritual order to the world, the birth of the Messiah, simultaneously set in motion the forces that would lead to its eventual collapse and the rise of its antithesis. The Christian “sleep” was, in this reading, inherently unstable, destined from its very beginning to culminate in the “nightmare” of its own end. This highlights the cyclical nature of history where creation contains destruction, and every birth precipitates an eventual death.
Secondly, and complementarily, the “rocking cradle” can also symbolize the birth of the next avatar or dispensation—the antithetical figure whose arrival signals the end of the Christian age and the beginning of a new, terrifying era. This is the birth that is truly “vexing” the “stony sleep” into a “nightmare.” In the subsequent lines of the poem, Yeats introduces the chilling image of the “rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born.” This “rough beast,” a sphinx-like creature with a “gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,” is the Antichrist or the avatar of the new, violent, and subjective gyre. The “rocking cradle” then becomes the metaphor for the actual, terrifying moment of this new, destructive birth, occurring precisely as the previous cycle unravels. This birth is not one of divine love but of primal, amoral power, unleashing a period of chaos and bloodshed, hence the “nightmare.”
The “rocking” of the cradle itself signifies unsettling movement, a departure from the “stony” stillness of the preceding era. It represents the instability and dynamic upheaval that marks the transition between historical cycles. The cradle, a domestic and nurturing symbol, is subverted to become an instrument of disturbance and fear, underscoring the disquieting nature of the new birth. This paradox of innocence and terror, creation and destruction, is central to Yeats’s vision of history as a series of violent transitions rather than smooth progressions.
Yeats's Cyclical History and "A Vision"
The lines are deeply rooted in Yeats’s elaborate metaphysical system, “A Vision,” which he developed through automatic writing with his wife, George Hyde-Lees. This system posits that history, individual lives, and cosmic processes are governed by two interpenetrating cones, or “gyres,” perpetually expanding and contracting in opposition to each other. One gyre represents the “Primary” or “Objective” phase, characterized by outward-looking impulses, public order, reason, moral unity, and the dominance of the collective. The other represents the “Antithetical” or “Subjective” phase, marked by inward-looking impulses, individualism, artistic creativity, emotional intensity, and a tendency towards disorder and self-obsession.
The “twenty centuries of stony sleep” directly corresponds to the Christian Primary gyre, which began with the birth of Christ. This era, according to Yeats, was characterized by the increasing dominance of objective truth, a unified (though perhaps stifling) religious dogma, and a focus on collective salvation. However, as one gyre expands, the other contracts, and within its very expansion, the seeds of its opposite are sown. As the Christian Primary gyre reached its fullest expression and began to exhaust itself, the Antithetical gyre of the next dispensation started to expand, causing the “stony sleep” to be “vexed.”
The “rocking cradle” is therefore the point of inflection, the catalyst of the transition. Whether interpreted as the birth of Christ (initiating the current Primary cycle) or the birth of the “rough beast” (initiating the coming Antithetical cycle), it marks the moment of profound historical shift. Yeats believed that as a Primary gyre nears its end, the antithetical forces that have been latent or suppressed within it begin to assert themselves with increasing intensity, leading to the fragmentation and disintegration of the existing order. The “nightmare” is this chaotic interregnum, the terrifying period of transition where the old gods die and the new ones struggle to be born, often through immense violence. The world Yeats observed in 1919—torn by war, revolution, and social upheaval—was, for him, precisely this “nightmare” phase, the “widening gyre” described earlier in the poem, indicating the loss of a unifying center and the ascendancy of centrifugal forces.
Symbolism and Modernist Disillusionment
Beyond the specific historical-mystical framework, the lines deploy powerful symbolism that resonates with broader modernist anxieties. The contrast between “stony sleep” and “rocking cradle” highlights the fundamental tension between inertia and motion, rigidity and fluidity, death and birth. The “stony” quality speaks to the perceived spiritual and intellectual stagnation of the post-Victorian world, a world seen as burdened by convention and lacking authentic vitality. The “rocking cradle,” despite its benign domestic association, becomes an agent of terrifying disruption, symbolizing the relentless, often violent, nature of historical change.
The “nightmare” is a potent symbol of the profound disillusionment and psychic trauma of the early 20th century. After the supposed progress and enlightenment of the previous centuries, World War I shattered the illusion of linear advancement and inherent human goodness. The “nightmare” reflects the collective subconscious fear of a return to barbarism, a regression from civilization into a primal, amoral state. Yeats’s vision, therefore, is not merely a detached philosophical observation but a visceral expression of the era’s deep-seated anxieties about the future of humanity. It rejects simplistic notions of progress and instead posits a cyclical, often brutal, historical process where periods of order inevitably give way to phases of chaos and renewal through destruction.
The lines also embody the modernist rejection of established narratives, including traditional Christian eschatology. While drawing on Christian imagery (Christ, Bethlehem, the Second Coming), Yeats subverts it. His “Second Coming” is not a benevolent return of Christ but the terrifying advent of an Antichrist, a “rough beast” whose coming is heralded by chaos rather than redemption. This inversion reflects a broader modernist skepticism towards grand narratives of salvation and progress, opting instead for a more chaotic, fragmented, and often pessimistic view of human destiny. The “rocking cradle” is not just the cradle of Christ; it is the cradle of the idea of a new era, whether divine or monstrous, which inherently destabilizes the old.
The imagery of sleep and awakening also carries significant weight. “Stony sleep” suggests a state of unconsciousness, perhaps even willful ignorance or spiritual complacency. The “vexing” by the “rocking cradle” is a rude awakening, a violent jolt into a terrifying reality. This transition from a state of static, perhaps deluded, peace to a dynamic, horrifying consciousness is a central theme in many modernist works, which sought to strip away comforting illusions and confront the stark realities of human existence.
The Implication of the Coming Era
The “nightmare” precipitated by the “rocking cradle” is not merely an abstract concept; it foreshadows the specific characteristics of the new age. Yeats suggests a complete inversion of values. The Christian era, with its emphasis on objective truth, moral order, and compassion, is to be replaced by an antithetical era dominated by subjective will, primal instincts, and a pitiless, amoral force. The “rough beast,” rising from the desert, is a creature of raw power, untamed and indifferent to human suffering. Its “blank and pitiless” gaze contrasts sharply with the compassionate eyes traditionally associated with Christ. This transition implies a world where the spiritual and moral anchors of the past are dissolved, leading to a profound sense of disorientation and an unleashing of destructive energies.
This shift also highlights Yeats’s fascination with the primal and the mythical. The “rough beast” draws its power from “Spiritus Mundi,” the collective unconscious or universal memory, suggesting that the impending chaos is not an aberration but a re-emergence of ancient, fundamental forces that lie beneath the veneer of civilization. The “rocking cradle” is not just a symbol of birth but a mechanism for unleashing these deeply buried, terrifying energies, disrupting the “stony sleep” of rational and moralistic modernity. The nightmare, therefore, is the eruption of the irrational and the violent into a world that had prided itself on its reason and order.
The lines “but now I know / That twenty centuries of stony sleep / Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle” are the intellectual and emotional fulcrum of “The Second Coming.” They serve as a powerful articulation of Yeats’s cyclical view of history, wherein the very beginning of an epoch contains the seeds of its own demise. The Christian era, represented by its “twenty centuries of stony sleep,” is depicted not as a period of unbroken peace but as a dormant state inherently unstable, destined to be violently awakened. This awakening is triggered by the “rocking cradle,” an image that simultaneously references the original birth of Christ—the genesis of the “sleep”—and the ominous birth of the antithetical, “rough beast” that heralds the new, chaotic era.
The profound paradox embedded in these lines—that the symbol of new life (the cradle) is the very source of a horrifying “nightmare” that vexes the preceding historical period—underscores Yeats’s understanding of historical change as a relentless, often brutal, process of creation and destruction. The “stony sleep” represents a period of ossified order and perhaps spiritual stagnation, which, in Yeats’s view, required a violent disruption to pave the way for a new, albeit terrifying, dispensation. These lines do not merely describe a historical transition; they embody the deep-seated anxieties of a world grappling with the collapse of old certainties and the terrifying prospect of an unknown, chaotic future.
Ultimately, these evocative lines solidify the poem’s enduring power as a prophetic meditation on the nature of civilization, the cyclical unfolding of destiny, and the human experience of profound historical upheaval. They reveal Yeats’s vision of history as a series of great, violent swings between opposing forces, where the supposed stability of one age inevitably gives way to the disruptive birth of its antithesis. The “nightmare” is not an external event but an inevitable culmination, an existential and societal horror born from the very foundations of the preceding “stony sleep,” making the “rocking cradle” a symbol of both primordial creation and inescapable doom.