{"id":42194,"date":"2014-12-13T19:49:22","date_gmt":"2014-12-13T19:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=42194"},"modified":"2014-12-13T19:49:22","modified_gmt":"2014-12-13T19:49:22","slug":"the-second-coming-insight-as-fact-and-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=42194","title":{"rendered":"The Second Coming: insight as fact and poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[ by <strong>Charles Cameron<\/strong> &#8212; witnessing the second and third order effects of the blood-dimmed tide, almost a century later ]<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p>Something which identifies itself as &#8220;Fact&#8221; apparently says:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid ones are full of confidence.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fact (@Fact) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Fact\/status\/543811349642358784\">December 13, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I submit that &#8220;Poetry&#8221; said it better:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>The best lack all conviction, while the worst&#10;Are full of passionate intensity.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; W. B. Yeats (@YeatsDaily) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YeatsDaily\/status\/519939068155932673\">October 8, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s give Yeats&#8217; comment a little of its context:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;<br \/>\nMere anarchy is loosed upon the world,<br \/>\nThe blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere<br \/>\nThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;<br \/>\nThe best lack all conviction, while the worst<br \/>\nAre full of passionate intensity.<\/p>\n<p>Surely some revelation is at hand;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The whole poem, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poem\/172062\">The Second Coming<\/a>, is a notoriously difficult one, and almost demands that one read the poet&#8217;s <strong>A Vision<\/strong> (perhaps both the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Collected-Works-W-B-Yeats-Volume\/dp\/1476740887\">1925 first<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0684807343\/\">1937 second<\/a> versions) &#8212; and yet the eight opening lines &#8212; such insight, such power:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Turning and turning in the widening gyre<br \/>\nThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;<br \/>\nThings fall apart; the centre cannot hold;<br \/>\nMere anarchy is loosed upon the world,<br \/>\nThe blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere<br \/>\nThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;<br \/>\nThe best lack all conviction, while the worst<br \/>\nAre full of passionate intensity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Where does one turn for hope in such a world as Yeats, writing in 1919, just short of a century ago, both saw and foresaw?<\/p>\n<p>What if the best regain conviction?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ by Charles Cameron &#8212; witnessing the second and third order effects of the blood-dimmed tide, almost a century later ] . Something which identifies itself as &#8220;Fact&#8221; apparently says: The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while the stupid ones are full of confidence. &mdash; Fact (@Fact) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[526,741,775,393,1,589],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charles-cameron","category-poetry","category-prophecy","category-twitter","category-uncategorized","category-wwi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42194"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42200,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42194\/revisions\/42200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}