Why did Achebe choose the title Things Fall Apart for this book?

chose
the title for his book from a poem by William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming." In
this poem, the Christian era falls and gives way to the modern era, an event which, in Yeats's
mind, occurred as a result of World War I. The poem states that as anarchy is imposed on the
world in the wake of the fall of religion, "things fall apart."

This idea is especially poignant in the book, as the Igbo culture begins to fracture. It seems
as if the characters are living near the end times, at least for their culture. With the arrival
of the Christian missionaries, something of a reverse from the intent of the poem, the culture
begins to fragment and crumble. Achebe's idea is that the upheaval that breaks down religion and
culture will send society into stagnation and destruction, as occurred when the...