William Butler Yeats The Second Coming 1920 21

William Butler Yeats “The Second Coming” (1920 -21) Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

What is the Age of Anxiety? – Assignment #1 DISILLUSIONMENT • a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be. “The storm has died away, and still we are restless, uneasy, as if the storm were about to break. ” - Paul Valery –READ THE VALERY DOCUMENT AND FIND 1 QUOTE THAT EMBODIES DISILLUSIONMENT AND DESCRIBE WHY

From Belle Epoque to Anxiety and Disillusionment • Feelings of “anxiety” and dislocation begin before WWI as some feel alienated by how fast society is changing. • These artists experiment with new forms, unconstrained by old “rules” • Those “early anxiety adopters” are on the margins of a society characterized by “positivism and progress” • After WWI those artists, thinkers and writers become mainstream. Edvard Munch – The Scream 1893

How do you think both pieces of music might characterize the time period after WWI? https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=a 9 M 2 o. THa 3 GM http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=d. MQFq. Wy. Fe. Kk