"Journey of the Magi" - T.S.Eliot

Introduction

'Journey of the Magi' is the monologue of a man who has made his own choice. In this poem T.S.Eliot describes the quest of the Magi for the Christ child, a long arduous journey against the discouragements of nature and the hostility of man, to find at last, a mystery impenetrable to human wisdom.

A tiresome Journey – A Cold Coming:

To begin with, the journey was nothing pleasant, because they had to travel through deserts all the way - waste, barren and desolate. Nor secondly, easy either; for over the rocks and crags of both Arabias, especially Petraea, their journey lay. Exceeding dangerous, as lying through the midst of the black tents of Kedar a nation of thieves and cut-throats; to pass over the hills of robbers, infamous then, and infamous to this day. Last we consider the time of their coming, the season of the year. It was no summer progress. A cold coming they had of it at this time of the year, just the worst time of the year to take a journey, and specially a long journey in. The ways deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off, "the very dead of winter."

The thrill of hope:

The next segment of the poetic journey represents enlightenment and conversion. Its optimistic natural imagery of a lush valley and the trees, the old white horse running from the pasture, the vine-leaves over the door of the tavern--speak of "hope and freedom and fruitfulness" It is a pause in the second to last stage of the trail that conveys a short sense of reprieve while evoking a number of significant Christian events. As they enter the temperate valley the Magi unwittingly bring the shadow of the Cross to the stable below the star. The three trees low on the horizon signify Calvary and Jesus' death on the cross. The galloping white horse, embodies Christ's victory over death. A tavern as a place of communion with the True Vine of John over the lintel is a reminder of the blood of the Passover lamb marked by the Hebrews on the doorposts of their homes in Egypt.

Birth or Death:

T.S. Eliot examines that very question in the closing stanza in bleak and barren language. With only a guess as to what might have happened to the Magi it is no sweet Christmas musing and the words are deep with poignancy that give pause. Many years have passed and an aging Magi remembers how it was for him after the departure from Bethlehem. "Birth or Death? he asks, "I had seen birth and death, but had thought they were different." He had knelt before the Christ child leaving him rich gifts. Hence, death here signifies, arriving back in Babylonia to discover that this birth had shaken him from his comfortable ways, a death of his old man and old nature.

Conclusion:

Eliot opened with contrition in stanza one, moved on to satisfaction in stanza two, and then concluded with confession in stanza three, suggesting that the soul, in its journey towards Christ and heavenly perfection, akin to the journey of the Magi, can never rest in the certainty of perfection but must be continually engaged in the process of becoming perfect.