This a blog for Mr. James Cook's eleventh grade honors English class at Gloucester (MA) High School. Remember what Northrup Frye writes in _Fearful Symmetry_, "No one can begin to think straight unless [she or] he has a passionate desire to think and an intense joy in thinking."

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Poems & Lord of the Flies

The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats

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?

The Sick Rose
by William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
~
In the comments box write a post-it note length comment about the relationship you see between the poem {lines, images, events, themes, etc.} and Lord of the Flies {characters, events, motifs, etc.} . (Quoting parts of the poem for commentary is a good technique.)

37 comments:

BHand13 said...

BrianHand
I vaguely remember a disagreement over Golding’s intentional choice of the word “ruin” in The Lord of the Flies. This language is echoed in The Second Coming line “Things fall apart.” Things falling apart on the island are similar to that of society described in The Second Coming. A particular line “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” certainly parallels the contrast between the highly passionate and decisive Jack and Ralph who prefers to stop and think things through. The “rough beast” in The Second Coming is comparable to the beast (inner nature) in LOTF because both are metaphors that led to new enlightenment. Also the line “the blood-dimmed tide” is reminiscent of the way Golding describes the water after the deaths of both Simon and Piggy.

As for The Sick Rose, the worm contaminating the rose reminds me of the flies about the pig’s head; both were once full of life but have been tainted by evil desires. Both worms and flies produce thoughts of death and decay, and both the worm of TSR and the beast of LOTF are invisible, secret forces.

Michael said...

Michael McGovern

In the poem, "The Second Coming" there are many different themes that relate to "The Lord of The Flies." One example would be in the first four lines of the poem. It talks about how a falcon can no longer hear its owner and ancarchy occurs. This relates to The Lord of the Flies because the boys are alone on an island where they are not in contact with society and their civilization falls to anarchy. The poem also refers to a shape with a lion body and a man's head. This can relate to the beast on the island that all the boys fear.

greenandpurpleglasses said...

Allie Lees
In Yeats’ “The Second Coming”, Yeats mentions “the ceremony of innocence is drowned”. It makes me picture a baby being drowned because a baby is the most innocent kind of human. It also reminds me of how Ralph realizes his loss of innocence and weeps. The creature with the lion’s body and man’s head made me think of the theme of man’s animalistic side in LOTF. I think that Yeats had that idea in mind too because he once said,"I began to imagine [around 1904], as always at my left side just out of the range of sight, a brazen winged beast which I associated with laughing, ecstatic destruction." He also mentions that he uses this beast in the Second coming.

I find “The Sick Rose” to be quite dark. The idea of a sickly worming eating its way at a flower that is the symbol of love and beauty is terrible. The last two lines remind me of the beautiful innocent exterior of the boys that is shattered by violence and lust.

aunis said...

Alicia Unis

The quotes from the first poem Second Coming, "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" and "The ceremony of innocence is drowned" both relate to LOTF. In the novel, the boys start to revolt against order on the island and even celebrate anarchy, like mentioned in the poem. Anarchy and disorder seems to consume the boys as they surrender to their savage instincts. The second quote I chose also relates to Ralph in LOTF. At the end of the novel Ralph "wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart". this shows a sort of cause and effect in both the poem and LOTF. As both loses order and anarchy begins to dominate, innocence is slowly lost. In both works of literature this loss of innocence is both recognized and regretted.

The Poem the Sick Rose relates to LOTF because of its relationship between love/passion and its beholder. In both works of literature passion is celebrated and embraced, but leads to decay and downfall of the possesser.It also mentions that "his dark secret love Does thy life destroy" and in LOTF it is the inherent savage nature of mankind that is his destructer.

Courtland said...

Courtland Kelly

I'm going to be completely honest and say that the majority of both these poems make no sense to me. The first stanza of "The Second Coming" elegantly portrays the disintegration of society and the line “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” does seem to describe Ralph and Jack, but other than that, I’m having a real hard time. I read the Sick Rose poem many times and still don’t fully understand what the invisible worm is supposed to represent, but I think it may be some sick, inner human desire that comes out during a storm and thirsts for blood? Possibly. And if this is a somewhat correct interpretation then I guess it would obviously correspond to the boy’s dance during the storm that results in Simon’s bloody death. Anyway, that’s what I got. And I’m sorry about this being so informal. I just decided not to pretend I knew what was doing so as to not mislead people.

Emily Castro said...

Emily Castro

THE SECOND COMING
"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." This stanza from Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" is almost a mirror image of "Lord of the Flies". The first line, "Things fall apart", sets the basis of the story, because when the novel begins the boys work together in something that resembles an orderly society, but as the story progresses, everything falls apart, and any form of order that the boys once operated under is completely disregarded, similar to the anarchy described in line 4. The poem then talks about the drowning of innocence by a blood-dimmed tide; in LOTF the boys lose their innocence as they begin to hunt and kill one another and are exposed to murder and bloodshed, which robs them of their innocence. The last two lines of the poem connect to specific characters in the book. "The best lack all conviction" relates to Ralph, a civil-minded leader who likes to make well though out, practical, decisons. "...the worst are full of passionate intensity." connects to Jack, who, although he may be malicously violent, is full to the brim of passionate intensity that is driven by primal desire.

THE SICK ROSE
After reading William Blake's "The Sick Rose" I immediately drew a parallel between Simon and the rose and human nature and the worm. The rose and the worm have a parastitc relationship, where the worm benefits, but it's host, the rose, suffers. This reminds me of how Simon's realization makes itself at home inside Simon's mind and eats away at him until he decides to share his knowledge, and is killed in the process; just as the worm detroys the rose, "the beast" destroys Simon.

Kyle Smith said...

"things fall apart"

When i read this quote the very first thing that came to mind was the book, Things Fall Apart. Did a quick google search and I found out that the novel is named after this particular poem. I assume that there is some connection between the two (the book is on my list of thigns to read, I'll find out eventually), I think that it is intersting that we are using this clearly influential piece of poetry to interpret another influential novel.

Personally, i think that the quote, "The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity" clearly describes many different things that play out in life and in Lord of the Flies and an obvious connection can be made to the level headed Ralph and the passionate Jack.

Kaylie McTiernan said...

Kaylie McTiernan
The Second Coming

The Second Coming has a few parallels to the LOTF. The poem seems to share the similar idea of structure falling apart in the absence of boundaries. The falcon losing the falconer is like the boys losing the rest of their civilization. “The ceremony of innocence is drowned,” relates to Simon and his struggle to get his thoughts across. The line about being “full of passionate intensity” relates to Jack and Roger as characters. Another interesting line, “The darkness drops again; but now I know,” is another parallel idea. Simon must go into the darkness and confusion in order to take some sort of understanding from it.

The Sick Rose

In the Sick Rose the title alone relates to the LOTF. The line “O Rose, thou art sick!” is similar to Simon’s view of a beast within “at once heroic and sick.” The poem portrays a perfect rose being killed by a worm. This parallels the island, at first a perfect place, then destroyed by the boys. It shows the destruction and danger of following your own desire without thinking rationally.

Anonymous said...

Sarah Johnson


I think I found that I was a little off focus when reading The Second Coming the first time through – I hadn’t made the connection to the Christ story, but the last line does seem to point it in that direction. I know we had mentioned briefly in class that LOTF has been looked at through that particular “lens”, viewing Simon as a Christ or Savior. The story does run parallel to LOTF, where “the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity”. I feel Piggy fits the role here, knowing and thinking and feeling the ways he does, but he can’t seem to make any sense of it, or at least he can’t find a way to let others see. Jack however, has that intensity, but has no plan about what to do with it. I was also intrigued by “spiritus mundi”, a phrase I am unfamiliar with. I looked it up and found "the spirit or soul of the universe, with which all individual souls are connected through the 'Great Memory,' which Yeats held to be a universal subconscious in which the human race preserves its past memories. It is thus a source of symbolic images for the poet". Besides the fact that I was just told it was symbolic, I feel this holds true to the Simon as Christ theory. Simon is this “universal subconscious” (anthropological model), and he “preserves its past memories”, as seen since he is the only boy who is aware of human nature, and the havoc it is wreaking due to the boys’ ignorance. I thought that was quite intriguing and it’s really making me appreciate all of the “lenses” we’ve been provided with, especially since they give us an opportunity to compare and contrast aspects of the book.

In the Sick Rose it seemed most likely to me that human nature is the rose. As pointed out by the first line, its already sick! It only needs a worm, (whether we can see it to blame something, or if it is invisible), that comes out during the worst of times (the storm), to point out the flaws of human nature, since it “has found out thy bed”, and destroy anything positive we build up.


I read over everyone else’s responses after writing that one, and I’ve found that everyone else seems to fit Ralph into the spot of “the best lack[ing] all of conviction”. I really disagree here. I think Piggy is the one lacking conviction, although he has the knowledge to turn around the destruction the boys create. (Referring once again to our “lenses”), it makes sense that Jack and Piggy, the Superego and the Id, would hold opposite qualities. Ralph, as discussed, I found more of a mediator, because he is the one to which apply the lines “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned;”. Ralph here is the one seeing the pain and destruction, which Piggy and Jack are both oblivious to thanks to their one-sided viewpoints.


(sorry this is NOT post-it sized! i got a little carried away...)

Mercedes Lane said...

Mercedes Lane

"The Second Coming" has various lines that could be considered relatable to the Lord of the Flies. A few of the most important lines occur at the very beginning of the poem. These ideas found in the LOTF can be seen in the lines, “The falcon cannot hear the falconer, Things fall apart.” In the novel, the boys lose their ability to fully communicate as their time on the island progresses. They become caught up in their own ideas and their community loses touch with each other. Eventually terror reaches the group as it splits, and it completely fails.

The relations between "The Sick Rose" and The Lord of the Flies are quite distinct. The descriptions of the creature in the poem appear to have similar qualities to the monster in the novel. The line, “The invisible worm,” and the line, “Does thy life destroy,” both describe a creature that not only appears in the poem but in Lord of the Flies as well. The monster in the novel is hidden, never seen by the boys, but has the ability to ruin the comradery and lives of the young boys.

Mr. J. Cook said...

Abby L.

The Second Coming clearly shows the relationship between the people who are in control and those who aren't. That while the ones who seem to have a good idea of whats going on in the world and how it works lack the power to do anything about it and the ones who aren't the best in society seem to be blinded by passion. So the poem can represent both Jack and Ralph and their respected tribes.

While of course in The Sick Rose the idea of a worm in a flower can symbolize that the flower is dead because that is when most bugs come to inhabit things, this can go along with the idea of the Lord of the Flies and how it is a dead thing that is in most people.

Paul Russo said...

In the Second Coming, everything that W.B. Yeats says is opposite of what it would be normally, or he says that things are losing their distinguishing features. For example, "the ceremony of innocence is drowned" or " a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun" shows things in a form foreign to what they are used to. This can be compared to the Lord of Flies because everything is changing for the worse as the novel progresses. The civiliation they intended to form falls apart.

In The Sick Rose, I agree with what Brian says about the worm contaminating the rose and how it relates to the pig's head in Lord of the Flies. The only difference is the worm in the poem is an imaginary one, being invisible and able to fly in the night, which is confusing to me. I don't understand why the worm has to be fictional in Blake's poem.

alannah gannon said...

Alannah Gannon

In the Second Coming, Yeats write about how the falcon can't hear the falconer. thatreminded me of how the boys are alone and no one can find them. The falcon cannot hear the falconer. He also says "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" this is very much like when the boys break apart into the two groups.

alannah gannon said...

Alannah Gannon

when I first read the sick rose i was a little confused. After i read it again i noticed that "the invisible worm that flies in the night" can be realated to the beast in LOTF.

Lucy Fox said...

luc dubs

Having read Yeats' poem and LotF, you could make the assumption that the two were written together, as they are so connected. "Things fall apart" gives a vivid picture of the boy's disintegration of civilization on the island. "The best lack all conviction..." (Piggy lacks the confidence necessary to put his common sense to use) "while the worst are full of passionate intensity." (Jack in his yearning for power and willingness to use his instinctual nature to get it.[it can also be connected in that Jack is getting this primal emotion from the same place that we are said to find our passions.]) Could the second coming be connected to the 2nd arrival of people to the island? It seems as if the connections are innumberable and endless. From these connections, one can assume that the themes in lord of the flies are not unique to Golding, but others have observed them as well. There is great truth behind the words that Yeats and Golding have given us.

Kat said...

“The Second Coming” sounds almost like it is describing the fall, and then rise again of a government, even in the title it sounds like a new government, or leadership. The “centre” in line 3 describes the control unit of society, that is falling apart, without control/organization everything falls apart. In LOTF, the conch symbolizes both of these things, and without the conch holding any purpose in “most” of the boys minds, everything falls apart. It’s almost as if when the “second coming is at hand” it isn’t what was hoped. The second coming seems big and scary “A shape with a lion body… A gaze blank and pitiless…”, almost as if the change had not done anything but recycled the old evil, unstable and corrupt. The second coming in LOTF is when the man finds or rescues (if you can call it rescue) the boys. Truth is, the boys are only going back to more violence, more of the same thing that happened on the island. In “The Sick Rose” I think the invisible worm represents the inner nature of everyone. No one can see it, or even know that it is there, until it is too late. In LOTF, two boys, maybe three(mulberry birthmark boy) had to die before any of the boys realized what they had done.

Ali O said...

When reading The Second Coming what catches my eye first off is “things fall apart; the center cannot hold.” For it’s as if this line alone sums up and embodies the total situation in Lord of the Flies. “Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world; the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.” In relation to the novel, disorder and chaos is taking over, and “the evil”, the “lord of the flies”, is lurking and unleashed day by day. The evil is eliminating any purity and innocence that was present in each character. The talk of another revelation at hand, and a “Second Coming”, I took as the pure evil succeeding and corrupting the boys, and the rest of the poem gave “evil” a body, and a shape by giving it a “Lion body”, a “head of a man”, “reel shadows”, etc.

When reading “The Sick Rose” I considered a connection between the rose and boy. The “invisible worm that flies in the night” symbolizes evil, “dark secret love”, and inevitably finds the rose (boy), and fulfills its most wicked, demeaning task of corruption.

Hannah Benson said...

"The Second Coming" most relates to LOTF when the line "The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity." To me, this line also relates to society and how adults behave as well as the children of the Island in the novel. It is Jack, who is full of the worst ideas that ends up in charge because he has the most passion and he is the most intense. It is piggy, who the best ideas seem to come from, that is killed brutally because no one will listen to what he has to say. As soon as innocence is lost, so is common sense.

In "The Sick Rose" the worm symbolizes the boys use of power. The worm slowly kills the rose but seems to be harmless, just like how on the island the power that the boys have is slowly tearing them down and killing them little by little

leah palazola said...

The Second Coming

This poem corresponds perfectly with Lord of the Flies. The lines that stuck out at me the most were, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold". This relates to how the boys are stuck on the island with no way to communicate with the outside world. There are no adults or authority figures telling the boys what to do and keeping them under control. This causes the boys to go wild and they are not able to maintain civilization. The poem also talks about The Second Coming relating to Christ. "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" I do not think this was meant to be inturpreted as just Christ being born. I took it as in every new baby born there is a beast/monster inside of them. Meaning that there is a beast within everyone.


The Sick Rose

After reading this poem it gave me an overall thought of how human nature can be destructive. From the images of the "invisible worm" on a rose and how "his dark secret love does thy life destroy". These images make me think of how there is a beast within everyone which, if you allow it to, can and will destroy. This relates exactly to Lord of the Flies with most of the boys especially Simon.

alison r said...

Alison Randazza

The Second Coming
After reading the first stanza in Yeat's "The Second Coming" I found that a specific part of it greatly paralleled the main themes in "Lord of the Flies.”
“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.”
I believe that the first line, “Things fall apart,” parallels the basic setting of the book—that being that as the book progresses the civilization that the boys built up at the beginning slowly crumbles as power is switched and blood is spilled. “The ceremony of innocence is drowned,” parallels the loss of innocence the boys have as the book progresses—at the beginning the boys were well-mannered and all for civilizing the island, but as the book progressed they became blood-thirsty and cruel. I also agree with Emily Castro, when she said that “‘The best lack all conviction’ relates to Ralph, a civil-minded leader who likes to make well though out, practical, decisons. ‘...the worst are full of passionate intensity.’ connects to Jack, who, although he may be malicously violent, is full to the brim of passionate intensity that is driven by primal desire.”

The Sick Rose
All I could think about while reading Blake’s “The Sick Rose,” was the bigger picture in Lord of the Flies. I instantly drew parallels between the flower being the civilization while the worm being the beast which figuratively “destroys” the civilization little by little. In both the poem and Lord of the Flies the “worm” is “invisible” as well as a “dark secret love” which according to Lord of the Flies, every human possesses.

Lucy Morgan said...

Lucy Morgan
The first stanza of 'The Second Coming' parallels the society that the boys build in The Lord of the Flies. After a short time on the island the boys forget about what their parents and teachers taught them about morals and how to be civilized ("The falcon cannot hear the falconer;"), and chaos swarms the island ("the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world;"). The conformists, the boys who don't speak their minds turn out to be the best for the island society, while the passionate boys mess things up ("The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.").

I think 'The Sick Rose' represents a loss of inocence. The invisible worm that destroys the rose parallels a main theme in The Lord of the Flies. Raw human nature is the worm that destroys the beauty and innocence (rose) of society.

banderson said...

In the second poem the "Second Coming," I believe that this quote, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer," relates to Lord of the Flies alot. This relates to the novel becuase they had believed at one point that they were the monsters of the island. That quotes relates to them because it is proves that sometimes the monster cant notice that they are a monster.

Emily Philpott said...

Emily Philpott

W.B. Yeats poem, The Second Coming, is vey connected to Lord of the Flies and shares some of the same themes as the novel. The poem is about things falling apart and order being lost which is exactly what the book was about. The line, " the ceremony of innocence is drowned", from the poem relates to the boys in the story and how their innocence was lost because of what they had experienced on the island. In the Sick Rose, Blake writes about and innocent rose being destroyed which also connects to the novel's theme of innocence being detroyed and true human nature coming out.

Anonymous said...

Nick Barusso
In the poem, The Scond Comming, the motif of things falling apart can be directly compared to the boys on the island in Lord of the Flies. Also the irrational hope motif of the poem can be liked to the character Piggy, who also in the novel shows irratioal ideals. Also the latin word 'Spiritus Mund' in the poem, which translates Spirit of the World, can be seen as the Pig's Head/spirit in Lord of the Flies.

In The Sick Rose, the ivisible worm is similar to the Pig spirit in Lord of the FLies.

Ben Moore said...

Ben Moore

In the first stanza of “The Second Coming” you can see a connection with Lord of the Flies. The lines “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” is related to the destruction of the society the boys make. The boys split into two groups and soon after anarchy and dismay persists on the island. Yeats says “The ceremony of innocence is drowned;” This is associated with the boys loss of innocence after the death and bloodshed of Simon and Piggy. Also in the poem, it states “The best lack all conviction,” which I think represents Piggy’s character in Lord of the Flies. And it states “the worst are full of passionate intensity” which I believe represent Jack and the hunters.

At first, I was having a hard time trying to figure out what “The Sick Rose” was all about, but after reading it a couple more times I think I figured it out. I believe that the flower as a whole represents the boys and their society. I also think that the invisible worm represents the beast within them (human nature) that comes out and destroys their society.

MegHan said...

Meghan Ciaramitaro

The Second Coming
The lines, "The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world," reminds me most of Lord of the Flies. It seems to relate to the whole downfall of society on the island.

The Sick Rose
The Sick Rose, does not seem to show any realtion at first. It wasn't until taking a closer look that i realized the line, "And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy." relates to Lord of the Flies text. The boys in Lord of the Flies love hunting, and they love it so much that it destroys their mindset. They lose reality to this "dark secret love" of hunting and "destroy life."

Analise Sanfilippo said...

Analise Sanfilippo

"The Second Coming" and the Lord of The Flies have quite a strong connection between eachother. As W.B. Yeats mentions "things fall apart" it makes me think of they way that the island seem to be something whole and in the end fall apart with the differences everyone has. The second line that helped me make a connection between LOTF and "The Second Coming" was when it said " Were vexed into nightmare by rocking a cradle, And what rough beast,its hour come round at last." This makes me feel a connection between the cradle being the island the boys are on and the last statement reminds me of how even though the boys are rescued in the end everything is not as it was in the beginning

The connections that i found from The Sick Rose and the LOTF reminds me of when the Piggy's life is taken. This is because I feel as if piggy was the one that gave most of the boys the ideas of what to do on the island be was never actually the one to do anything.

Nicole said...

Nicole Miller-"The Sick Rose"
This peom pretty much sums up "lord of the flies" in 8 lines. The rose represents hummanity (or the boys on the island); sick, because in our darkest and most chaotic hour it is then that the "worm" (the darker side of human nature) manifests itself. And because of its "dark secret love" it destroys our inoccence along with our belief in morality. Just like in "Lord of the flies" durring the boys most fearfull and chaotic hours things begin to crumble and thier darker sides take over and destroy innocence.

Nicole Miller-"The Second Coming"
"The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mear anarchy is loosed upon the world."
When the falcon (who is similar to the boys on the island) is set loose and can no longer hear the commands of the falconer (the grownup world)wich dictate proper behaviour,it causes things to fall apart (just like the boys fall apart).

Alyssa D'Antonio said...

As I read the two poems by Yeats and Blake, and reflected upon Lord of the Flies, I didn't at all find it hard to relate the three works. In the Yeats poem the falcon not being able to hear the falconer is clearly related to the boys being reserved from civilization, they cannot hear the calls of the society that made them, and gradually the "things fall apart". The descriptions of the Second Comming in the second stanza can be equated to the comming of the beast.

To me the Sick Rose appears to relate most closely with Simon in LotF. The rose is sick because of an invisible worm that flies through a howling storm. In LotF the beast is an invisible plague that leads the boys to their destruction.

Unknown said...

"The second coming" has a very obvious and blunt conection to the lord of the rings from the first couple of sentences. William Yeats writes about destruction, bloodshed, and chaos in his poem. then it goes on to talk about a second coming which refers to the second coming of jesus christ. this could be connected to the naval officer showing up and saving them as christians believe jesus will come again to save them.

the second poem, "The sick rose" by william blake, has a less straight foward connection to "the lord of the flies". in fact, its so obscure that im not even sure what its refering to in the poem itself, let alone its connection "the the lord of the flies"

MHodgkins said...

Michael Hodgkins

The poem "The Second Coming" clearly relates to Lord of the Flies. "The centre cannot hold," for example. The idea of a strong organized government, an intelligenced based glue to hold societry together broke almost instantly, causing choas and disorder on the island as it does in the poem. In "The Second Coming" a beast is unleashed, unexpectedly. The same thing happened on the island, not only the beast from the inside, but the beast the boys constantly fear.

"The Sick Rose" also relates to Lord of the Flies. The boys crash land on this island and a idea to keep things running is devised. Slowly and surely though "the invisible worm" of evil finds this little paradise and infects it with this plague.

olivia said...

In the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats the line "the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned" makes me think of when piggy is killed. First it was simon and then piggy, after they had both died the island seemed to break apart even more.

olivia said...

In the poem "The Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats the line "the blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned" makes me think of when piggy is killed. First it was simon and then piggy, after they had both died the island seemed to break apart even more.

olivia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

i think that this poem is about the time the boys spent on the island. when the poem says things fall apart the center cannot hold, it means that ralph who was the cheif couldnt hold on to the other kids and every thing fell apart. when it says the blood dimmed tide it means that simons dead body is in the water. when it says the ceremony of innocence has drowned it means that jack and his hunters innocence have drowned with simons dead body who they killed.

Anonymous said...

i think that this poem is about the time the boys spent on the island. when the poem says things fall apart the center cannot hold, it means that ralph who was the cheif couldnt hold on to the other kids and every thing fell apart. when it says the blood dimmed tide it means that simons dead body is in the water. when it says the ceremony of innocence has drowned it means that jack and his hunters innocence have drowned with simons dead body who they killed.

Anonymous said...

i think that this poem is about the time the boys spent on the island. when the poem says things fall apart the center cannot hold, it means that ralph who was the cheif couldnt hold on to the other kids and every thing fell apart. when it says the blood dimmed tide it means that simons dead body is in the water. when it says the ceremony of innocence has drowned it means that jack and his hunters innocence have drowned with simons dead body who they killed.