In every generation, circumstances arise that seem to be harbingers of the end. One day, a generation will come that is right about this. But so far, harbingers of the end are followed by a new generation and a bunch more orbits around the sun.
Poets are often channels of feeling. As such, apocalyptic pathos finds its way into many a poem. “The Second Coming” by Yeats is a great example, as is “The End of the World” by Archibald MacLeish. I ran across this poem in high school, and was immediately hooked by what seems, at first, to be a random, disordered scene. I soon realized MacLeish was describing a circus that is in progress when something causes the circus tent to blow away.
MacLeish’s image is potent, to be sure. The end of the world is a circus tent that blows away when one would least expect, when everything in the tent is business as usual. And what better way to evoke the chaos of this world than a circus? A chaos that makes us feel, at times, that the world should and *must* end.
There are many other implications, overtones, and layers of meaning, I’m sure. That’s one thing I love about good poems: you can mine them over and over yet still find new gems. For instance, I realized, only last year, that this poem is a sonnet.
If you’re not familiar with “The End of the World”, I hope you’ll take a minute to read. Then read it again, and enjoy it…while there’s still time 😉
A Wandering Minstrel 