Slouching Towards Bethlehem

[VisionGirl]

I had no idea until this rewatch that the title comes from the Yeats' poem The Second Coming:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre 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.



Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming

Has anybody studied this poem, or Yeats in general, enough to comment on it? I just know what I'm reading on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_(poem)

As to the episode, I like Cordy better now that she's an ex-higher being (hated that), although it's so sad that she has lost her memory, and when she asks about baby Connor. I think it's hilarious when she sings Greatest Love of All. 😀 Ooh, Lilah is good (in an evil way), and poor Lorne!

 

[bloomyself]

Yeah, I loved her song choice of Greatest Love of All. I didn't even realize at the time that it was a throwback to Season 1 of Buffy. But someone mentioned it on a board recently. In the episode "The Puppet Show" that was Cordelia's song choice for the talent show. Good stuff.

 

[Username]

Yeah, I loved her song choice of Greatest Love of All. I didn't even realize at the time that it was a throwback to Season 1 of Buffy. But someone mentioned it on a board recently. In the episode "The Puppet Show" that was Cordelia's song choice for the talent show. Good stuff.

yeah thats some pretty good follow-up 😀

Totally off topic but, are you a Tobias Fünke fan too? 😛

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I remember reading an article on Slayage that talked alot about this episode and how it relates to the poems themes. *thinks hard* I can't remember for the life of me what it was called.

I did study this poem in my religion class back in college. Off the top of my head, I'd say that the idea of "slouching" meaning being pulled against one's will. Like how Christ had to drag the cross on his back to be crucified. Since the poem uses Christian imagery regarding the Apocalypse and His second coming as an allegory to describe the atmosphere in post-war Europe, I'd say the title of the episode is merely supposed to draw a parallel between those events (Second Coming of Christ and the Apocalypse) and the brevity of the The Beast's arrival being catatrophic. Think about it:

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

A clever reference for a clever show.

Also, the overall tone of the poem is very dismal and there is a feeling of the loss of hope. That chaos is taking over.

Things fall apart
The Centre can not hold.

The themes in the poem of good vs. evil, warfare, and memories of the past could also be agreed on as themes for AtS. Also, remember that "The Second Coming" refers the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament in the Bible, which prophesies the return of Christ after Satan’s reign of darkness.

I found an article on the episode here: http://www.chiefseattlereviews.net/slouching_towards_bethlehem.htm

Of course the interpretation of “Second Coming” has been a matter of controversy ever since the poem was written. There are many schools of thought and each has its own adherents. There is, for example, a specifically Christian interpretation which (contrary to the view expressed above) identifies the beast with the second coming of Christ rather than as the ending of the Christian era. And the one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that in the first stanza, Yeats was describing the state of society as a whole rather than the dynamics of a small group of individuals such as come under the microscope in this episode. So, it would be surprising indeed if the parallels between “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” and the poem from which the phrase is taken are exact. Nevertheless, I think that there is a basis for a meaningful comparison and that basis lies in the situations that the family in the teaser, Cordelia and Wesley are all faced with and the way that they respond.

Hope this helps. But hey, I'm not an expert by any means. I haven't studied much Irish literature. I know more about English. Regardless, the reference is definitely intentional.

 

[VisionGirl]

Thanks Joan, that's a lot of what I was thinking. Love all this symbolism. And yes, smart writers, smart show. 😉

 

[PDH5204]

I had no idea until this rewatch that the title comes from the Yeats' poem The Second Coming:


Has anybody studied this poem, or Yeats in general, enough to comment on it? I just know what I'm reading on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_(poem)

As to the episode, I like Cordy better now that she's an ex-higher being (hated that), although it's so sad that she has lost her memory, and when she asks about baby Connor. I think it's hilarious when she sings Greatest Love of All. 😀 Ooh, Lilah is good (in an evil way), and poor Lorne!

You might have read my sig line.

 

[ImagineReason]

I did read the poem, but it does nothing for me. Greek mythology was so much more interesting. The Odyssey...now that was something.

The episode did include the most romantic scene in all of Buffyverse.

 

[Ianigsy]

Yeats is an interesting poet- he really doesn't waste a single word and every line builds towards something. I think the point of the poem is that it's a product of the world immediately after the First World War, with the Russian Revolution in full swing and the map of Europe being redrawn. In a sense it's about the end of Christian European civilisation, the lack of leadership and the fear that what comes after will be worse.