T.S. Eliot beautifully tells the story of Jesus’s birth through the eyes of a magus who traveled to Bethlehem in “Journey of the Magi.” “Journey of the Magi” was published in 1927 and was a part of a series of Eliot's poems called Ariel Poems. “Religious themes became increasingly important in his poetry” after Eliot converted to Anglicanism.
The title, “Journey of the Magi,” clearly communicates to the reader of what they can anticipate to read. Magi is the plural form of magus meaning “a member of a priestly caste of ancient Persia.” Commonly, people call the three men who visited Jesus wise men and kings. T.S. Eliot does not use the word magi or other similar words. The readers do know, Eliot writes from one of the magi’s point of views as in line forty, “We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,” tells the reader the narrator is a king.
T.S. Eliot uses free verse to write “Journey of the Magi” as it uses no rime or meter. The form is dramatic monologue as the narrator, the magus, is speaking to the listener about his journey. The narrator found the journey hard, but kept persevering until he reached his goal of seeing “a Birth.” Eliot communicates that the magi are strong and determined men as they withstand the journey’s hardships.
“Journey of the Magi” begins with a quote based off of Lancelot Andrewes’s “Nativity Sermon.” The reader can feel the chills of the cold and long journey the magi must endure. The reader is immediately thrust into the middle of the journey rather than starting at the beginning. The narrator uses “we” as he talks about himself and his fellow magi. Their journey has brought regrets as the men think of their summer palaces and girls bringing them sherbet. The regrets have even spread to their ...
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...s people will die, so that they will be reborn in Jesus Christ. It is a beautiful ending to the poem.
T.S. Eliot conveys a powerful message in “Journey of the Magi” of Jesus Christ’s birth and the deaths of the magi. Eliot uses symbolism to paint a picture of the magi’s treacherous journey to see the birth of Jesus and to show the reader must “die” in order to be reborn again through Him. T.S. Eliot truly accomplishes creating a dramatic poem with “Journey of the Magi.”
Works Cited
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing. 7th compact ed. /Interactive ed. Boston, Mass.: Pearson, 2012, 805.
"Definition of magus in English." Oxford Dictionary. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/magus (accessed November 14, 2013).
Eliot, T. S.. “Journey of the magi.” London: Faber & Gwyer, 1927.
“Modern critics agree… that the novel has unity that its subject is an exploration of human aspiration and fulfillment by individual and social influences…” as a lining for various themes that Eliot uses through imagery and language. (Doyle 118) Beginning wi...
Spurr, David. Conflicts in Consciousness: T.S. Eliot’s Poetry & Criticism. Urbana: U of Illinois P. 1984.
Garraty, John and Mark C. Carnes, eds. T.S Eliot’s life and Career. New York: Oxford University Press.1999. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/life.htm
Spurr, David. Conflicts in Consciousness: T.S. Eliot’s Poetry & Criticism. Urbana: U of Illinois P. 1984.
T.S. Eliot composed poems from within his experiences, physical or mental conditions and his own social observations. To fully comprehend Eliot’s work, we must first understand what he has gone through at specific times in his life. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” becomes a great example of were we must primarily understand what has happened to Eliot. “There can be no simple equation between the experiences of the life and the poetry”(Scofield 18). Eliot’s poetry became a reflection of himself, and this is especially noticeable with his poem, “Prufrock.”
The editors of anthologies containing T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" invariably footnote the reference to Lazarus as John 11:1-44; rarely is the reference footnoted as Luke 16:19-31. Also, the reference to John the Baptist is invariably footnoted as Matthew 14:3-11; never have I seen the reference footnoted as an allusion to Oscar Wilde's Salome. The sources that one cites can profoundly affect interpretations of the poem. I believe that a correct reading of Eliot's "Prufrock" requires that one cite Wilde, in addition to Matthew, and Luke, in addition to John, as the sources for the John the Baptist and Lazarus being referenced. Furthermore, the citation of these sources can help explain Eliot's allusion to Dante's Guido da Montefeltro.
During T. S. Eliot’s time many of his contemporaries including himself were in the custom of alluding to classic works of poetry. They incorporated references to notable texts like Dante. Eliot especially is a main perpetrator of alluding. Eliot has the ability create a picture for the reader and provide historical context to his works. A contemporary of Eliot, Pound, once said you should try to “be influenced by as many great artists as [they] can” (Pound 95). Eliot is following what Pound said by incorporating allusions in his works.
The most obvious stylistic device used by Eliot is that of personification. She uses this device to create two people from her thoughts on old and new leisure. The fist person is New Leisure, who we can infer to be part of the growth of industry in the 19th century. He is eager and interested in science, politics, and philosophy. He reads exciting novels and leads a hurried life, attempting to do many things at once. Such characteristics help us to create an image of New Leisure as Eliot sees him.
Choosing the first person form in the first and fourth stanza, the poet reflects his personal experiences with the city of London. He adheres to a strict form of four stanzas with each four lines and an ABAB rhyme. The tone of the poem changes from a contemplative lyric quality in the first to a dramatic sharp finale in the last stanza. The tone in the first stanza is set by regular accents, iambic meter and long vowel sounds in the words "wander", "chartered", "flow" and "woe", producing a grave and somber mood.
Because of Eliot’s economic status, he attended only the finest schools while growing up. He attended Smith Academy in St. Louis and Milton Academy in Massachusetts. In 1906, he started his freshman year at Harvard University studying philosophy and literature. He received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in only three years. Eliot went on to study at the University of Oxford and also at the Sorbonne in Paris. At the Sorbonne, he found inspiration from writers such as Dante and Shakespeare and also from ancient literature, modern philosophy and eastern mysticism. Eliot’s first poem he wrote was “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in 1915. Eliot converted his religion to Anglo - Catholicism and in 1927, his poetry took on new spiritual meaning. Ash Wednesday was the first poem he wrote after his conversion in 1930. It is said that it traces the pattern of Eliot’s spiritual progress. It strives to make connections between the earthly and the eternal, the word of man and the Word of God and the emphasis is on the struggle toward belief. Thus telling us that God is part of Eliot’s American dream.
Modernist Poet. "T.S. Eliot | Christian History." T.S. Eliot | Christian History. N.p., 8 Sept. 2008. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
Williamson, George. A Reader's Guide to T.S. Eliot; a Poem by Poem Analysis. New York:
...In "The Waste Land," Eliot delivers an indictment against the self-serving, irresponsibility of modern society, but not without giving us, particularly the youth a message of hope at the end of the Thames River. And in "Ash Wednesday," Eliot finally describes an example of the small, graceful images God gives us as oases in the Waste Land of modern culture. Eliot constantly refers back, in unconsciously, to his childhood responsibilities of the missionary in an unholy world. It is only through close, diligent reading of his poetry that we can come to understand his faithful message of hope.
T.S Eliot, widely considered to be one of the fathers of modern poetry, has written many great poems. Among the most well known of these are “The Waste Land, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which share similar messages, but are also quite different. In both poems, Eliot uses various poetic techniques to convey themes of repression, alienation, and a general breakdown in western society. Some of the best techniques to examine are ones such as theme, structure, imagery and language, which all figure prominently in his poetry. These techniques in particular are used by Eliot to both enhance and support the purpose of his poems.
This Christmas poem is about the Epiphany and was created the very year of Eliot’s conversion to Christianity (Fleisner, 66). Therefore the theme of religion is an important one if we are to analyse the poem correctly. In the book of Ephesians in the Bible, Paul describes the rebirth of the world upon Christ’s death, emphasising the Ephesians’ new life (2:4-5). This theme of death and rebirth is present in the poem Journey of the Magi, which, I will argue, is structurally and internally divided into three stages; corresponding to the Sacrament of Penance: contrition (guilt), confession and satisfaction.