Journey Of The Magi Essay -- essays research papers

T.S. Eliots Journey of the MagiThis Christmas poem is about the Epiphany and was created the very family of Eliots conversion to Christianity (Fleisner, 66). Therefore the ascendant of religion is an important nonpareil if we are to analyse the poem correctly. In the book of Ephesians in the Bible, capital of Minnesota describes the rebirth of the world upon Christs last, emphasising the Ephesians new life (24-5). 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 Lords Supper of Penance contrition (guilt), confession and merriment.To understand this poem, one has to understand the opposition that Christ had on the World. At the season of his birth, however, the known world was non stable people worshipped many gods, and we get a rich description of the way life was by the Magus who narrates his story of their journey to Bethlehem to watch the end of an era and the birth of a new one. According to the Oxford dictionary of the Bible, "contrition is a penitents spiritual sorrow for the sins he has committed, and it necessarily includes hatred for such sins, as well as the ratiocination to avoid them in the future." In the first stanza, this "spiritual sorrow" is evident by the contrast Eliot uses, of the Magis difficult journey. In fact, the central center on of criticism has been on the journey the "cold coming" (line 1) during "the worst time of the year" (line 2), emphasising the climatic statement of the stanza "A hard time we had of it" (line 16). The Magus dialog of their sorrowful past life of ease, the times they "regrettedthe silken girls bringing sherbert" (lines 8-10), and in the same way that they are physically moving towards Christ, they looking they are progressing spiritually, putting a personal ban on the puckish lives they have had. This act of contrition s eems genuine because they are pressured by the "voices recounting in their ears, saying/ That this was all folly" (lines 19-20). These are the voices of the camel men, the hostile cities and the uncongenial towns, voices that tempt the wise men to cease their foolish journey and fall, at once again, into spiritual degeneration. In the end, the difficulty of the jour... ...sinful ways and, second, that the Magi no longer aggregate with their people, who are now alien to them, "clutching their gods."The final sentence also multiplies in meaning, reiterating the theme of the poem that the search for apotheosis is a process alone ending in death. On one level, the verbalizer wishes for his own death in order to end this tiring process. On some other, higher level, the speaker wishes for the death of Christ, for, ultimately, it is in Christs death that true rapture can occur. Eliot also emphasises the speakers doubt over the finish and Rebirth in the poem, using "should," which suggests both that he indeed "wants" another death in order to bring about spiritual innovation and that he "ought" to be happy with another death, but is not certain that he would be happy after his experience with the first death.To conclude, the poem Journey of the Magi, touches on the journey of human spirit and their endeavour for perfection. It delivers a message that we are all involved in the process of perfection of self, and sombrely, one can only reach this place of utter satisfaction through death.