The “lion body and the head of a man” and “the rocking cradle” in “The Second Coming” symbolize systems of philosophy alternating in power.
William Butler Yeats in his poem “The Second Coming” speaks or predicts about the future of Ireland and its people. After the first World War when the whole world got shattered because of the destructions, the people hoped for peace and hoped that the Christ would come back for their salvation. Instead, a sphinx-like figure with “lion body and the head of a man” emerges which can be another form of destruction coming towards people since its birth because it has “the rocking cradle.”