The+Second+Coming

Chinua Achebe wrote __Things Fall Apart__ many years after the poem "The Second Coming" was written by Yeats. Achebe took the phrase "things fall apart" from the poem and therefore as we begin reading the novel it is important to begin with a quick look at the poem.

Use the link to read the poem. Be sure to read it twice. [|The Second Coming]

Then answer the questions in complete sentences in the Reading section of your Daybook. All questions are due on Wednesday, September 23 - no excuses.

1. Read the poem twice. 2. Make a list of the words that you do not know or that you do not understand. Using a dictionary, create a vocabulary guide to the poem. 3. Pick your favorite new word and write it and its definition on your notecard (use bright colors and write the word nice and big). 4. What does the author mean by “turning and turning in the widening gyre/ the falcon cannot hear the falconer”? 5. What does //Spiritus Mundi// mean? (you might have to use an internet latin dictionary). 6. What literary term is being used in the line “a gaze as blank and pitiless as the sun”? 7. What is an allusion and in which lines does one appear in the poem? 8. Rewrite the poem in your own words. You may not use any of the same phrases as are in the poem – plagiarism rules apply – you are only rewriting or summarizing NOT quoting.