What Strange Beast Slouches?

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

What does the rough beast symbolize in the Second Coming?

What does the rough beast symbolize in the Second Coming? The poem is alluding to the Book of Revelation. The “rough beast” is the Anti-Christ. ... “Turning and turning in the widening gyre” also alludes to the view of a cyclical nature of history expressed elsewhere by the poet.

What is the beast in Yeats second coming?

The "rough beast" is the Anti-Christ. The scene is set for the final showdown and the Second Coming. Thus, with its unremitting pessimistic tone notwithstanding, the poem at least gives humankind the possibility of redemption.