Discuss the symbolic significance of the poem The Second Coming NU W B Yeats wrote The Second Coming after World War I The world was full of fear violence and change In this poem Yeats uses strong symbols to show the fall of the old world and the rise of something dark The Falcon and the Falconer Loss of Control Yeats says at the beginning of the poem The falcon cannot hear the falconer The falcon is a bird and the falconer is the one who controls it This line means that people no longer follow rules or leaders The world has lost control There is chaos everywhere This symbol shows that society is falling apart It also means people are forgetting old values Things fall apart End of Old Order Then Yeats writes Things fall apart the centre cannot hold Here centre means the heart of society or the