The Journey of the Magi By T. S. Eliot
“The Journey of the Magi”
“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep, and the weather sharp,
5
The very dead of winter”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces
And the silken girls bringing sherbet
Then camel men cursing and grumbling
10.
And running away, and wanting their liquor,
and women
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
15.
And the villages dirty and charging high prices.
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night
Sleeping in snatches
With the voices singing in our ears saying
20
That this was all folly.
Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation,
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the
Darkness
And three trees on the low sky.
25
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow
Then we came to a tavern with vine leaves over the lintel
Six hands at open door dicing for pieces of silver
And feet kicking the empty wine skins
But there was no information, and so we continued
30
And arriving at evening not a moment too soon
Finding
the place, it was (you may say) satisfactory
All
this was a long time ago. I remember,
And
I would do it again, but set down
This
set down.
35.
This were we led all that way for
Birth or death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen
Birth and death
But had thought they were different: This birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us like death,
Our death
40
We returned to our places, these kingdoms
But no longer at ease here in the old
dispensation
With an alien people clutching their gods
I should be glad of another death
About the Poet
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis in Missouri, USA on 26 September, 1888
into Boston family. He was an
Anglo-American poet, critic and dramatist He was educated at Smith Academy and
the prestige’s Harvard University. He is
well known poet with unconventional vocabulary and musicality. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948
and died 4th January 1965. Some of his great works include: Murder
in the cathedral (1935), Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1949) and others.
Background/Setting of the Poem
The poem is a religious poem
which alludes to the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in the Bible. It is one of Eliot’s early poems written when
he got converted to Christianity in 1927 to further prove his Christian faith
to the world. In the poem, Eliot retells
the story of the magi, that is, the three wise men in the Bible from the East
who are said to have brought presents to the baby Jesus according to the gospel
of Matthew 2:1-12. The narrative is told
from the point of view of the Magi, that expresses the theme of alienation and
recount their difficulty and frustration encountered during the course of the
Journey. The poem is basically or
largely a complaint about a Journey that was painful and tedious. The poem is a dramatic monologue which houses
literary allusions to works by earlier writer such as Lancelot Andrews,
Arnold’s “Dover Beach”.
CONTENT ANALYSIS SUBJECT MATTER/SUMMARY
Eliot’s
“The Journey of the Magi” is a travelogue, that is, a poem which gives a
record of the poet’s or persona’s experience during a Journey. The narrative poem gives account of the three
wise men from the East in the Bible thereby presenting the unfriendly condition
of the weather or hazardous effects the wise men (magi) encountered in the
course of searching for the new born baby.
Shortly after the birth of Jesus according to the bible, the three wise
men were guided by the stars of Bethlehem from the east to Jerusalem. The stars have informed them of the birth of
Jesus Christ. Consequently, they set out
a Journey to find the Messiah and the king of Judea and to present him with
their gifts. The story is divided into
three parts, each dealing with a different aspect of the tempestuous
Journey.
In the same vein, Eliot bases his story
on the nativity in the gospel of Mark in which three wise men travel, guided by
a star to the manger where the baby Jesus was born.
Stanza one (line 1-5). The first part of the poem begins with the difficulties encountered by the Magi with a poor weather condition which is the cold time of the year (winter) as the weather is cold and harsh. The persons call such season, “the worst time of the year/for a journey/ the dead winter” the persona complains bitterly because of the harsh weather condition. This gives us the detail of the setting of the poem “The ways deep and the weather sharp”.
Stanza Two (line 6-20). The stanza presents the tedious nature of the
Journey which is far and the effect of the Journey on the magi. The cold and unfriendly weather affected the
camel as they also sustained painful swelling injury in their feet and this makes
them reluctant at a point to continue the Journey. Hence “And
the camels galled, sore footed, refractory/lying down in the melting snow”. As a result, the Magi begin to regret ever
embarking on such difficult Journey which has no end. The camels are tired. Their men are cursing, grumbling and
complaining bitterly. They remembered the comfortable homes, “The summer places on slopes and the
terraces they have left behind”. They also remember the smooth and beautiful
girls back home who serve them with sherbet (sweet fruits and Juice), a cold
drink of watered and diluted fruit Juice.
The “silken girls” make life
enjoyable coupled with the merriment in their comfortable home. “And running away and wanting their liquor,
and women”. Here there is a note of
nostalgia (home sick) as the Magi consider absconding from the Journey in order
to have their women and wine at home.
Worse still, the cities they take refuge in are
in total blackout and this compound their problem. “the
night fires going out” as soon as they light their lamp and “the lack of shelters”, no comfortable
place for them. The cities are hostile
while the natives (people) of the towns are unfriendly and unaccommodating
“And the villages dirty and
charging high prices
A hard time we had of it
At the end we preferred to travel all night
Sleeping in snatches
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.”
This implies that the villages they pass
through are dirty. Yet they charge
exorbitant price for their products and services. As a result, the magi cannot get a good
accommodation in their inn. They sleep
in “snatches” (for a short period rather than continuously). They don’t get regular sleep because they
prefer travelling at night for fear of being attacked. As they progress, they begin to doubt “with
the voices singing in our ears saying“that the whole journey may be a wasteful
adventure, perhaps a worthless venture.
Stanza three (line 21-31), suddenly, they
arrive in Bethlehem that is “a temperate
valley” that is “smelling of
vegetation”. This gives them hope
that their long suffering has come to an end and the Magi begin to express some
optimism of a bright weather and a nice topography. From there, the speaker alludes to the
crucifixion of Christ on the cross with the two thieves on his sides. “Three
trees on the low sky” Also, as soon
as they enter, they find six people playing gambling for pieces of silver, they
cannot get the precise location of the birth of Jesus from natives as they seem
to be obsessed with the drinking and merriment and absolutely unaware of the
birth of the Messiah in their town. They
continue until they arrive at a place in the evening, a place they never
expected to be the birthplace of the savior of the world and the King of the
Jews. It is a manger! And the Magi are
not convinced such a great savior would be given birth to in a place where
animals are kept.
Last stanza (line 32-43): The concluding part
of the poem is more philosophical as it exposes the preoccupation of the poem
as the narrator remembers that this happened a long time ago, and he would like
to repeat such journey again. The magi
have witnessed the birth of Christ and it has put a death to their old life. “… and
no doubt I had seen birth and death”. This birth was hard and bitter agony for
us, like death”. This means that
before that journey, the Magi were pagans.
Now seeing Christ has transformed their lives into repentance. The birth
of Christ has given them new life and salvation. Consequently, they come across “our death” to their old life. Symbolically, the poem depicts the journey of
a soul in search of salvation and a journey from paganism to Christianity.
After presenting the gifts to Jesus (gold,
myrrh and frankincense), they return to their home land where they no longer
feel at ease in the “old dispensation”. The old dispensation is their former way of
life where they drink alcohol and womanize.
In fact, with their new change of life, they now see their very own as “alien people”. They are no longer at east with “their gods having seen the messiah whose
birth “has announced the death of their worldly ways. Not minding the pains and travails they have
passed through in the course of their journey to find Christ. The speaker concludes the poem with a note of
assurance, “I should be glad for another
death”. The expression “another death” is an allusion to the
death of Jesus Christ which would bring salvation and redemption to the world
because whoever dies in Christ must reign with Him in heaven. The line above is also a call for fortitude
on our part to get prepared for the thorny journey in Christian race.
Themes
The Search for Salvation and Redemption
The road to salvation and God-like life is
usually full of difficulties, obstacles and rigor. The Magi (three wise men) set out on a
tempestuous journey in search of where Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. The stress that characterized the journey was
quite enormous and unbearable, and because the birth occurred during winter “just the worst time of the year/for a
journey and such a long journey/the very dead of winter”. They defile the cold and unfriendly weather in
order to have first encounter with the Messiah who will redeem and save the
whole universe from the den of sins. They believe sincerely that the birth of
Jesus Christ will change their lives for good where the salvation of their
souls would be guaranteed.
Though the journey was marred with pains and
disappointment but the magi feel undaunted.
Firstly, the camel sustained painful swelling injury in their feet and
they became tired as well.
“And the night fires going out and the lack of shelters
And the cities hostile and the town unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices
A hard time we had of it”
The above lines demonstrate to us that the
road to salvation is not smooth. it is full of stormy weather. During the journey, the three wise men have
no shelter on their heads, the cities were hostile and unfriendly, and the
dirty villages charged high prices for their goods and services. The people also booed and made fun of them
just to discourage them. This means that
people might call you names today because you are a Christian searching for
salvation and redemption, but don’t be moved by their profane words because
they are mere dis-tractors, specially designed by the devil to pull you out of
Christian race. You will also notice in
the end, the Magi who happened to be pagans before they set forth for the
journey turned from their wicked ways in what the poet calls “old dispensation/with an alien people…
The death of old life and the beginning
of a new life
The birth and death of Jesus Christ marks the
end of sinful life and welcomes the new life of hope, salvation and good life
in Christ. The birth of Christ, who is
also the messiah that saved the world from the shackle of sins, washed the sins
of mankind clean that could not be washed off by the blood of an animal.
Also, the three wise men (the magi) embarked
on the journey to Bethlehem not only to see Baby Jesus in order to satisfy
their curiosity but also to seek salvation and a new lease of life by purging
themselves of old life of sins that will not take them to heaven. The old life in question is a life of
idolatry, adultery, fornication, lying tongue, backbiting, greed for material
wealth, dishonesty, etc. The magi
sincerely believe that as soon as they meet baby Jesus and present him with
gift, their lives will be redeemed. The tedious and stressful nature of the
journey is also symbolic of old way of life and this makes them tired and fag
out easily during their journey, because they are yet to receive the salvation
that will later oil the lamp of their new life in Christ.
It is worthy of note also that after
presenting their gifts to Jesus, they return to their homeland where they no
longer feel at ease “in the old
dispensation”. The old dispensation
is their former way of life where they drink alcohol and womanize. In fact, with their new change of life, they
now see their very own as “alien people” as
they “no longer” feel at ease with their
gods” having seen the messiah whose birth has announced the death of their
worldly ways and enthrones new life in Christ Jesus. The entire journey is meant to seek spiritual
rebirth.
The Painful and Tempestuous Journey of
Life
The poem “The
Journey of the Magi” symbolically presents the journey of life which is
usually difficult, energy sapping, arduous and back breaking. But one thing is sure, there is always light
at the end of the tunnel. The journey embarked by the then wise men is not
without a lot of difficulties, before they got to Bethlehem, the birth place of
Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the
poem we learn that the journey falls into bad season, during harsh cold
weather.
The journey was not only far and tiresome, but
also frustrating because the feet of the camel were swollen as the wise men
also resort to grumbling. Cursing and murmuring. The ugly experience of the journey also makes
them start thinking about their comfortable homes as their servants and women
are always at their beck and call. Some
other frustrations encountered by the three wise men include: lack of
accommodation and the cities they lodged in was hostile and unfriendly and they
also charged exorbitant prices for their goods and services. They are constantly reminded by their inner
voices and the people around that the journey is a mere waste of time “That this was all folly”. Consequently, all the aforementioned
hindrances and difficulties experienced by the Magi do not make them return
home half way. They persevere and refuse
to cave in to such disappointment as their desire and aspiration are meant in
the end. This poem is a clarion call to mankind never to give up, no matter how
horrible the situation of life may be.
The gains of Patience: Worldly Pleasures are Ephemeral
This poem also teaches us the virtue of
patience and its gains. This is because
worldly pleasures are just temporary; we don’t need to yield to them; for they
pass away with the twinkling of an eye.
The three wise men in the poem exercise and
cultivate the value of patience throughout their journey. At first they did not cancel their trip to
Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born because of the cold season of the year
which Eliot calls “the very dead of
winter”. Amidst the difficulties
experienced by them such as swollen feet, lack of shelters, dirty villages,
extortion, regret, the magi remain steadfast and patient. The people in the villages they lodge in also
mock, scorn and jest at them, attributing their journey to a wasteful one. Even when there was no information about the
supposed birth of Jesus Christ, they continued with the journey.
However, the poet also assures
us that worldly pleasures are ephemeral and temporary because the kingdom of
God is not all meat and drink, everyone has time and season, according to
Ecclesiastes. At the middle of the
journey, the Magi feel like going home to meet their loved ones and their
comfortable home where their servants are at their disposal. They also long for their usual evasive
merriment at home. The magi forgot all
these at a point and forged ahead to Bethlehem.
Eliot therefore presents this picture to mankind to always ward off
worldly pleasures which usually last for a short period and they are like
distractions to our road to salvation.
Poetic
Devices
1.
Diction:
The language of the poem is simple, and it can be read and understood by
an average reader. The poem is written
in prose and verse form. It is the
prose-like nature that makes the language straightforward, but the syntax and
word-choice in the middle part is a bit complex. The poem is narrative and descriptive in
nature. Note that the plural form of” Magi” is “the Magi”
2. Personification:
(a) “With
a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness” (1.23)
(b)
“And three trees on the low sky” (1.23)
(c)
“The cities were hostile, the towns unfriendly. “(1.12)
With all these human attributes are
given to abstract ideas / or animate objects.
This helps to project the experiences of the Magi in the poem.
3. Symbolism: Some of the instances of metaphorical
representations in the poem are also symbolically relevant. Such words include:
(a) “The three trees” – symbolizes the three
biblical trinity, which also represents God the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. “Pieces of Silver” represents the thirty pieces of silver paid to
Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus Christ.
“The white horse” is a symbol
of purity. The horse is the symbol of
Chris t and the “sloppy topography” shows the sinful and corrupt life of the people
before God saved them. “The running
stream” symbolizes baptism and it is water of purification. “Tavern”
represents the house of Herod in the bible.
“The journey of the Magi” represents
the three wise men in the bible.
4. Alliteration:
In line 1 and 9 of the poem, we have the sound /k/ and /s/ alliterates, A cold coming… And “Sleeping in snatches… singing in our ears saying” (1.19). The
repetition of these sounds also enhances the Lyrical quality of the poem.
5. Simile: “Hard
and bitter agony for us, like Death” Here the persona makes the reader to
understand the situation and difficulties they encountered in the journey to
Bethlehem by equating it to death.
6.
Paradox:
Line 38-39 is self-contradictory.
“Birth and death / But had
though they were different and that the beginning of life marks the journey to
the grave.
7.
Syneedoche:
Here the persona also uses a part to represent a whole “And feet kicking the empty wine skins”,
“feet” stands for people, “six hands”
in line 27 also stands for six people gambling at the hotel “cities” in line 12, represents people
in the town they visited.
8. Irony: There is verbal irony in line 43:”I should be glad of another death”. This is quite ironic because despite all
the challenges and difficulties encountered by the magi they would still like
to repeat the journey because they feel that the benefits of the journey cannot
be compared to the pains (salvation of their souls).
9. Pan:
There is a play on words in line 33-34 “And I would do it again, but set down /this set down.
10. Litotes: In line 30, the persona says “not a moment too soon” which shows that the journey took a fairly long
period.
11. Biblical
Allusion: “Six
hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver” is a reference to the
soldiers who diced for Jesus Christ’s robe at the front of the cross, and the
third piece of silver with which Judas betrayed Jesus Christ.
12. Tone:
The attitude of the persona towards the journey at the beginning is that
of despair, pessimism and discomfort (disappointment) and the tone later
changes to optimism and hope.
13.
Mood: Initially, the
persona’s mood is that of sadness and regret, but also changes to happiness and
fulfillment.
Difficult
Words and Meaning
Sore-footed-swollen feet
Refractory- resisting control
Sherbet-a powder that tastes of fruit
when put in one’s mouth
Liquor-alcoholic drink
Hostile – very aggressive and unfriendly
In snatches-for a short periods rather
than continuously,
Folly: stupid and lack of good judgment
Tavern: a pub or an inn.
Dispensation: Social permission to do
something that is legal
Alien: Strange and frightening
Silken-soft
LIKELY WAEC
AND NECO 2021-2025 QUESTIONS
1.
Discuss “The Journey of the Magi” as a religious poem.
2.
Examine any two themes in the poem.
3.
Identify and discuss any four (4) dominant poetic style of the poem
4.
Assess the theme of quest for salvation and spiritual rebirth in the
poem.
5.
Identify the poetic tone of the poem and use it to discuss the poem’s
main theme.
6.
Justify the assertion “Patience and Perseverance are the keys that
unlock
our destiny” Discuss.
7.
The creation of “The journey of the Magi” has been facilitated by the
introduction of ideas from the Bible.
Expatiate.
8.
Examine the religious imagery in the poem.
9.
Analyze the poem from the perspective of the title. “The journey of the
Magi”
10. Give a detailed account (stanza to stanza) of the poem.
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