Topic 4: How I would describe "The Second Coming" to the Average Fourth-Grader

If I were to give a lecture on the poem "The Second Coming" to a fourth grader or a class of fourth graders, I would do my best to make sure that they understand it as best as possible.

I would start with telling them a bit - not too much, though - about the author, William Butler Yeats:

William Butler Yeats, the author of the poem, was a Catholic soldier in World War II. One of his really good friends in the war was killed, and this was extremely saddening for Yeats. When he came back from the war, he was very emotionally damaged, and his faith with God was destroyed. He wrote this poem after returning from the war.

I would then rephrase the poem in a way that they would be able to understand:

Turning and turning in the center of the storm,
The bird cannot hear the bird caller;
Things fall apart; Chaos is everywhere
There are no leaders, no laws, and nobody knows what to do,
War is taking over, and everywhere
The ceremony of Baptism is made evil;
Good people remain silent and without opinion, while the worst of people
Are taking over, with strength and boldness.

Others believe that the Second Coming of Christ will occur,
That he will save us, and judge the good and evil;
But when I hear of the Second Coming,
I see a vision of the Holy Spirit
In dry, lifeless lands;
I see it as an evil creature,
A pitiless, killing monster
Which, as it drags itself across the land,
Throws off the shadows of other creatures.
Nighttime returns to all of the land, but now I know
That for the twenty centuries that people have been waiting,
There was nothing good worth waiting for, and they were fooled into thinking that there was.
Now, though, is there a terrible beast, whose time has come at last,
Slouching towards Bethlehem, the center of all religion, to be born?

After reading this, I would summarize it breifly to make sure that they would get the main ideas:

Around the world, everything is out of order and chaotic. War is occurring, people are dying, and evil is taking over, while the good people do nothing. Everyone thinks that they will be saved by the Second Coming of Jesus Christ who will judge good and evil, but they are wrong. What the author sees when he hears about this "Second Coming" is the spirit of God in the form of a monster that will destroy, rather than save, if it ever does come to earth.