Journey of the Magi, Eliot

Eliot’s Journey gives the reader insight into the feelings of the Magi on their journey to see the birth of Christ. It really makes this long ago trip seem real, come alive.

His description of the long, hard journey in the first stanza certainly makes the reader feel as if they were there. From the Magi’s point of view he describes the cold winter travel, then in the middle of the stanza the Magi reflects on “the summer palaces on the slopes…” In these lines he seems to be describing a life of luxury (what they must have had at home) but, “There were times we regretted..” the narrator says. Possibly, he knows their life at home was superficial and this difficult trip is teaching them more. And the whole time they were being discouraged “..voices singing…this was all folly.” but, they traveled on.

In the last stanza the narrator reflects on the long ago journey and says he would “do it all again.” He wonders if they had come such a long way to see a birth or a death and then decides it was both: “…this birth was hard and bitter agony for us like death, our death.” I think the Magi is claiming they were changed, or reborn on this journey. Like the Christian theme of salvation, a person’s old life becomes dead and they are born again into something new (the reason Christ came to this Earth). He follows by saying how things changed for them when they arrived home. They no longer felt at ease in their kingdoms and palaces and felt they were with “alien people clutching their gods.” The narrator finally claims he would be glad to do this again. This difficult journey obviously resulted in a real, life changing experience for him.