Question

The phrase "terrible beauty" is attributed to :

• A. William James
• B. W.B. Yeats
• C. Robert Burns
• D. Robert Graves

Answer 1

Answer:

B. W.B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats and the Phrase "Terrible Beauty"

• The phrase "terrible beauty" is famously associated with the Irish poet William Butler Yeats (W.B. Yeats).
• This evocative phrase appears in his poem "The Second Coming", written in 1919.
• The poem was inspired by the political turmoil and violence in Ireland following World War I, including the Easter Rising of 1916 and the subsequent Irish Civil War.
• "The Second Coming" is known for its apocalyptic imagery and its commentary on the breakdown of social order and the emergence of a new, potentially destructive, era.
• The line containing "terrible beauty" reads: "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; / 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?"
• Yeats (1865-1939) was a pivotal figure in 20th-century poetry and a leading figure in the Irish Literary Revival.
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923 for his "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the national spirit".
• The phrase "terrible beauty" encapsulates the paradox of destruction and creation, chaos and awe, that Yeats perceived in the revolutionary events of his time.

Exam Relevance:

• Candidates preparing for competitive exams, especially in English Literature, should be familiar with famous lines and their authors.
• Knowing the context and poem associated with such significant phrases is crucial for answering questions on literary analysis and comprehension.
• W.B. Yeats's life, works, and major awards (like the Nobel Prize) are frequent topics in general knowledge and literature-specific sections of exams.