Yeats believed that history occurs in two thousand-year cycles of birth, growth, and decay. Explain how lines 21–22 from “The Second Coming” reflect this philosophy:And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?

Answer:

These lines reflect Yeats’s belief in cyclical history because they suggest that one two-thousand-year age is ending and another is beginning. The phrase “its hour come round at last” shows that history moves in repeating cycles, not in a straight line. Bethlehem symbolizes the beginning of the Christian era, but instead of a savior being born, Yeats imagines a “rough beast” coming to birth. This shows that the old age has decayed and a new, darker age is about to replace it.