Joni Mitchell: Slouching Toward Bethlehem
Posted by Mike E on August 13, 2009
William Yeats’ powerful poem “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” (quoted in the neighboring post) is known to many of us through this song of Joni Mitchell (lyrics).
(Yes, Slouching was also an Angel episode… but you know, without the poem.)
the poem itself:
The Second Coming (Slouching towards Bethlehem)
It was written in 1919, the aftermath of World War 1, when the promises and hopes of European civilization seemed shattered and fake, and when it was very unclear what new world was fighting to be born.
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: a waste of desert sand;
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
Wind 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?
Joni Mitchell’s Lyrics (based on Yeats’ poem):
Turning and turning
Within the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer
Things fall apart
The centre cannot hold
And a blood dimmed tide
Is loosed upon the world
Nothing is sacred
The ceremony sinks
Innocence is drowned
In anarchy
The best lack conviction
Given some time to think
And the worst are full of passion
Without mercy
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it’s the second coming
And the wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Hoping and hoping
As if with my weak faith
The spirit of this world
Could heal and rise
Vast are the shadows
That straddle and strafe
And struggle in the darkness
Troubling my eyes
Shaped like a lion
It has the head of a man
With a gaze as blank
And pitiless as the sun
As it’s moving its slow thighs
Across the desert sands
Through dark indignant
Reeling falcons
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it’s the second coming
And the wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
(Head of a man, shape of a lion)
Raging and raging
It rises from the deep
Opening its eyes
After twenty centuries
Vexed to a nightmare
Out of a stony sleep
By a rocking cradle
By the Sea of Galilee
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it’s the second coming
And the wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
(Head of a man, shape of a lion)
Miles Ahead said
Picky picky. To my recollection “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” is part of an overall poem by Yeats, “The Second Coming.”
Joni Mitchell’s version is wonderful, a classic. Unfortunately, Joan Dideon’s compilation of short stories, using the overall title “Slouching Toward Bethlehem” IMO is not…While Dideon is an icon to many, personally I think she is a self-centered, conservative, windbag.
Yeats’ poem was written after WW I, in 1919. Various literary critics have said the poem was mainly about the aftermath of WW I, as well as the French Revolution and Irish Rebellion, while others say it is in response to the Bolshevik Revolution–and is on the side of the “counterrevolutionaries.”
Miles Ahead said
oops, sorry didn’t see the rest of this post where Yeats’ poem is clarified.
Dr. Zaius said
I always found the poem to be very powerful, and I always liked it. It can be interpreted in various ways, but that goes with a lot of art.
Years ago I remember watching Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” and while the film has its highs and definitely lows (the Mao scene), one of my favorite scenes was cut out of the theatrical version but was added as a deleted scene on video. It consisted of Nixon visiting the CIA in Langley and having a conversation with the then director of the agency, the notorious Richard Helms. Helms is speaking to Nixon like he’s his ignorant child about programs, or pogroms since they’re very similar in CIA speak, and Helms starts reciting the Yeats’ poem to him while visually the viewer gets flooded of images of CIA assassinations and coups from South Vietnam, Dominican Republic, the Congo, etc.. It was one of the best applications of the poem in art I’ve ever seen or heard.
jp said
A great poem by a great poet, but incredibly overused, sometimes incredibly wrongly used, in the past decade or two. No disrespect meant to its use here. It’s not quite as overused as Dickens’ “best of times, worst of times” or T. Wolfe’s “you can’t go home again.”
Another great Yeats’ poem with a line you hear, “A terrible beauty is born” is ‘Easter, 1916′ about the uprising which, socialists should be aware, was lead by a sort of united front including the influential socialist James Connolly. See http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/779/