Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold
E884265
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" is a famous apocalyptic line from W. B. Yeats’s poem "The Second Coming," often quoted to evoke social or political disintegration.
Observed surface forms (1)
| Surface form | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold" | 0 |
Statements (42)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
poetic line
ⓘ
quotation ⓘ |
| appearsInStanza | first stanza of "The Second Coming" ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
apocalyptic imagery in literature
ⓘ
decline of Western civilization (interpretive context) ⓘ |
| author | W. B. Yeats NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| culturalUse |
used to describe institutional breakdown
ⓘ
used to describe political crisis ⓘ used to describe social crisis ⓘ |
| firstPublicationDecade | 1920s ⓘ |
| firstPublicationYear | 1920 ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn | "The Second Coming" NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| genreContext | modernist poetry ⓘ |
| hasCentreSpelling | British English spelling "centre" ⓘ |
| hasForm | two independent clauses separated by a semicolon ⓘ |
| hasInfluenceOn |
journalistic headlines about crisis
ⓘ
political discourse metaphors ⓘ titles of essays and books about decline ⓘ |
| influencedTitleOf | "Things Fall Apart" (novel by Chinua Achebe) NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| lineNumberInPoem | opening of the third line of "The Second Coming" ⓘ |
| literaryMovementOfAuthor | Modernism NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| medium | written text ⓘ |
| meterContext | appears within iambic pentameter variations ⓘ |
| nationalityOfAuthor | Irish ⓘ |
| oftenQuotedIn |
cultural criticism
ⓘ
historical analysis ⓘ political commentary ⓘ |
| partOf | "The Second Coming" NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| periodContext | post–World War I era ⓘ |
| quotationFrom | "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| quotedAs | "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold" in American English NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| rhetoricalEffect |
heightened dramatic tension
ⓘ
sense of impending collapse ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
breakdown of central authority
ⓘ
loss of social cohesion ⓘ onset of chaos ⓘ |
| theme |
apocalypse
ⓘ
collapse of order ⓘ political disintegration ⓘ social disintegration ⓘ |
| workType | apocalyptic line ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.