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Quotation from The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats

“That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,”

W. B. Yeats (spoken by The speaker)

The Second Coming, Lines 19-20 (Michael Robartes and the Dancer (Cuala Press, 1920))

Portrait of W. B. Yeats

The speaker's new knowledge that the Christian age, begun at the Nativity, is ending.

Citation: "That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle," — W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming, Lines 19-20 (Michael Robartes and the Dancer (Cuala Press, 1920)). (id the-second-coming-q4)

Portrait: Yeats1923, Unknown, Public domain.

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Quote card: That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle