The Journey of the Magi--T. S. Eliot
Throughout his life, T. S. Eliot struggled with religion and belief. Born and brought up in a Unitarian1 family, he was surrounded by a particular kind of religious ideology. When he joined Harvard, he began to get interested in Buddhism. But Eliot’s search did not end with Buddhism. His quest eventually led him to a full conversion to High Anglicanism in 1927.
“The Journey of the Magi”, was written in 1927 after Eliot’s conversion to Anglicanism. Thus the poem forms a landmark in the spiritual journey of Eliot. In the poem, Eliot retells the story of the Magi who travelled to Palestine to visit the newborn Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. As per the Gospel, the Magi were the three wise men namely Balthazar— King of Chaldea, Gaspor—King of Ethopia, and Melchoir—King of Nubia. They came to Bethlehem to pay homage to infant Christ presenting him with gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. The poem is a narrative told from the point of view of one of the Magi. It expresses the theme of alienation and a feeling of helplessness in a world that has changed.
'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,
The very dead of winter.'
The first five lines are taken from the Nativity Sermon given by Lancelot Andrews3 in 1622. 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. The ways deep, the weather sharp, the days short, the sun farthest off, “the very dead of winter."
And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, [Galled= rude behaviour, refractory= difficult to control]
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet. (anachronism--at the time of Christ there was no sherbet)
The magus is narrating the difficulties in the journey. The camels were rude, sore-footed and difficult to control. They often lied down in the snow and refused to get up. Those were the times they regretted the journey. They thought about the comforts of their palaces during such occasions.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
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
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
Eliot is removing all Romantic notions about the journey of the Magi. What he gives here seems to be the realistic picture of the times. The camel men were also difficult to control. They cursed and grumbled and ran away. They wanted their liquor and women. The night fires went out and there were no shelters for them. The cities were inimical and the towns were unfriendly. The villages were dirty and charged high prices. The magi had a very hard journey.
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.
The Magi ‘preferred to travel all night’ and faced agonising moments of self doubt: ‘voices singing in our ears saying that this was all folly’ before they finally reached a temperate valley. The poem now becomes symbolic rather than realistic.
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,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Low sky= not very high. Temperate= moderate The arrival of the Magi at the place of Nativity, whose symbolism has been anticipated by the fresh vegetation and the mill "beating the darkness," is only a "satisfactory" experience. The second half of the poem abounds in symbolism with the temperate valley signifying the change in their lives that followed the arduous journey. They come across a ‘running stream’ and a water mill beating the darkness. The stream and the water-mill stand for a promising future. Water-mill beating the darkness stands for the driving away of superstitions. Three trees stand for the three crosses on the Calvary. White horse represents the second coming of Christ as victor.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.
Pieces of silver stands for Judas betraying Christ for 30 pieces of silver. Hands dicing may stand for Judas dicing or for the Romans dicing for the dress of Christ after he was crucified. The entire stanza is filled with biblical imagery regarding the story of Christ and His death and resurrection, such as "three trees on the low sky," and "Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver".
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down This set down 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.
The narrator has seen and yet he does not fully understand; he accepts the fact of Birth but is perplexed by its similarity to a Death, and to death which he has seen before. Were they led there for Birth or for Death? Or, perhaps, for neither? Or to make a choice between Birth and Death? And whose Birth or Death was it? Their own, or Another's? The tone is one of utter confusion. Any change is painful and the Magi knew that they could no longer live in the world they lived till then. Hence the new birth was like a death for them. Similarly in the birth of Jesus also there is death as it is pre-ordained. Jesus was born to redeem the sins of humanity.
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.
Uncertainty leaves him mystified and unaroused to the full splendour of the strange epiphany. So he and his fellows have come back to their own Kingdoms, where, they lived among their people who believed still in their old religion. The poem ends with a note of resignation. The Magi are witness to a divine drama enacted by the Almighty. They knew that the world will be no more the same after the Birth. But they are unable to comprehend the changes that has taken place in their humdrum lives. Death would be more welcome than the uncertainty that surrounds them.
The birth of the Christ was the death of the world of magic, astrology, and paganism. The speaker, recalling his journey in old age, says that after that birth his world had died, and he had little left to do but wait for his own end. The last line, \"I should be glad of another death\" can have different meanings. One interpretation could be that Eliot is referring to Jesus\' death, aside from his own, or another rebirth (when someone converts to Christianity, they are \"reborn\"; the old man dies and the new man is born). Or it could refer to the death of religions when Jesus was born.
In the last stanza the speaker stops telling the story of their journey and tells what they learned from it. He talks of the nature of birth and death and decides that though they left to see a birth, the birth of Christ, it was like a death to them because after that everything changed. The last lines state it best: "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". This poem is classic Eliot, and like his other works, it leaves you with the feeling that while something important has happened, something has also been lost. Journey of the Magi" is an allegory of the spiritual journey. In renunciation, man cannot find happiness as the thought of sensual enjoyment is still there in his mind.
Notes
1. Unitarian: A Christian sect which believes that God is one entity and not three persons in one being. Christ is viewed as human rather than a deity. Unitarians also reject the notion of original sin. S.T. Coleridge was a famous Unitarian.
2. High Anglicanism: the doctrine and practice of the Church of England and other Anglican Churches. They base their Christian faith on the Bible, traditions of the apostolic Church, apostolic succession.
3. Lancelot Andrewes—(1555 to 1626). He was a prominent Anglican bishop during the reign of Elizabeth I and James I. He also oversaw the translation of the King James Bible. The first five lines are taken from his sermon on Christmas, 1622.
This notes is taken from :
http://sreekumarenglishliterature.blogspot.in/2016/10/the-journey-of-magi-t-s-eliot.html
Journey of
the Magi is both monologue and metaphor. Eliot wrote it to substantiate his own
conversion to Anglo-Catholicism and to emphasise the profound spiritual and
cultural changes that occur when certain events take place.
The
speaker's voice is that of a magus, one of the three travelling 'wise men' or
Persian priests (or Zoroastrian astrologers) and the narrative is split into
three separate sections:
Stanza 1 - the frustration and doubt of such a journey.
Stanza 2 - the anticipation and understated
satisfaction upon arrival.
Stanza 3 - the reflection on birth and death and
alienation.
Stanza 1
The first
five lines are adapted from an actual sermon given by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes
in 1622. Eliot took them and shaped them into this wintry opening, with long
vowels, enjambment, some repetition and a feeling of slight dread.
An
inauspicious start then. This first stanza is a tale of woe. Just note the
language:
cold
coming...worst time...such a long journey...The ways deep/weather sharp...The
very dead of winter...galled, sorefooted, refractory (stubborn)...we
regretted...cursing and grumbling...
On and on
through the whole 20 lines. It's interesting to see how Eliot reinforces this
idea of difficulty by repeating line openings...And the...And the...And
the...this use of anaphora works really well, reflecting the plod of the camels
and the monotony of the journey.
A feeling
of hardship and challenge emerges as the stanza progresses, but note that the
magi had also experienced the high life for a while - relaxing in summer
palaces - perhaps at the start of their journey, or back in their homeland,
when blue skies and silken girls with sherbet (historically, a Persian soft
drink) made life enjoyable.
So the magi
had to endure the challenges of real life as they journeyed on. They were
tested to the limit and in the end decided to travel at night to avoid the
sordid unpleasantries of cities and towns.
Some think
this part of the journey a kind of purification, similar to that of the 16th
century Spanish mystic St John of the Cross who wrote his poem Dark Night of
the Soul, about existential crisis, desolation and fulfilment.
The speaker
certainly had doubts about their 'mission' - thinking it foolish (all folly) -
and the voices could have been their own, or those from dreams and nightmares.
Stanza 2
This second
stanza brings some relief and represents the second stage of the spiritual
process. However, these lines also bring into question the idea of time. The
magi arrive at dawn, seeking information (on the whereabouts of the birth?) and
manage to get there in the evening, not a moment too soon, which is an odd
phrase.
In between
the speaker describes the various things they come across which are all
symbolically related to the future life of the Christ figure.
There is
much allusion, from the three trees (crucifixion on Calvary) to the wine-skins
(the Parable) the meanings are clear.
It's as if
the speaker is having a premonition, yet doesn't know the significance.
And that
curious half-line - it was (you may say) satisfactory.- suggests that the speaker
wasn't too impressed with the place of birth, was even a little disappointed.
Perhaps this also refers to the idea that the place, although important, isn't
as crucial to change as the journey itself.
Stanza 3
Here the
magi looks back, reflecting on the event itself, and coming to the conclusion
that in birth there is always death. They learnt a hard lesson, one that is
personal yet also universal.
Note the
syntax stretching and narrowing as the speaker puts the experience into
perspective and asks that most potent of questions: Birth or Death?
Out of the
old comes the new and with it the death in the birth. Spiritual, cultural and
psychic processes all undergo change and transformation. What was once familiar
now seems alien.
Life is a
journey, a struggle, but all humans have to go through it, often reaching
moments in their lives when a threshold has to be gotten over. Sometimes new
understanding has to take place in order for this to happen.
Journey of the Magi by T. S. Eliot: Summary and
Critical Analysis
The poem Journey of the Magi is based on the
theme of the Bible. It is full of religious feeling. The visit of the Three
Wise Men of East to Palestine at the time of Christ's birth has been described
in a very realistic way. The wise men started their journey in the extreme cold
of the winter to reach the place of Christ's birth to offer presents to him.
In the course of their journey they got many
hardships and suffering. In spite of this they continued their journey
throughout the night. In the way they did not get shelter and food. The snowy
way made their camel tired. The idea of beautiful girls who were not present to
entertain them is also very imaginative and artistic. Again with the non
co-operation of people in the way is also very heart-touching. The wise men did
not get any help from the people of cities and town. They were hostile and
unfriendly to them. This shows that those people lacked farsightedness about
the importance of Christ's birth.
In the course of a journey, they saw a
temperate valley with natural vegetation and beauty which lessened their
tiredness. This is full of nature description and proves that Eliot was a
nature poet also. The sounds of the stream and water-mill and smell of
vegetation were very pleasant to the Magi and the readers. The white horse
galloped in the meadow is also very symbolic and it points out the speed of the
horse with his rider. The Magi reached a tavern where they did not get
co-operation of those six men who were busy in gambling society. The Magi
reached their destination and offered their present to Christ. This is a
religious achievement of T.S. Eliot.
The poet wants to emphasize that the birth and
death of Christ were different from the common people. His birth was hard and
bitter agony of the human race, like death. He was crucified for the redemption
of humanity from sins and bondages. The description of three trees on the low
sky symbolizes the future Crucifixion of Christ because he was crucified near
the three trees. The poet takes a sense of relief and appreciates the quality
of Christ and his extraordinary death. The language of the poem is very
measured. The poet has achieved grand success as an artist. The poem is very
symbolic and full of religious touch.
"Journey of the Magi" is an allegory
of the spiritual journey in which the flesh still craves for sensual enjoyment.
The details of the journey of the three wise men from the east bound for
Jerusalem to honor the newborn Jesus are the "objective correlatives"
of the spiritual experiences of the journey from the kingdom of the world to
the kingdom of heaven, which entails the death of the old physical self and the
birth of a new spiritual one. It is a long hazardous journey in "the worst
time of the year" in the "very dead of winter", when the body
needs protection and seeks sensual pleasure.
The Magi are a composite symbol of the
spiritual quest. While one of them reminisces the journey undertaken by them,
he longingly recollects their indulgence in sensual pleasure. He says that
while they were going to Emmaus, they felt drawn to the fleshly enjoyments, the
lack of which tortured them and in such a moment of spiritual crisis, they
regretted to have obeyed the call of the spirit.
However, the quester survives the long journey
in the night and at dawn he is in a "temperate valley" where
everything is pleasant. It is the dawn of spiritual exhilaration; the different
aspects of nature signify the new images of life; the "running stream"
symbolizes the rhythmic flow of life; the "water-mill beating the
darkness" suggests the doubt being driven away; the galloping away of
"the white horse" in the meadow symbolizes upward movement of the
spirit. At this stage the quester becomes conscious of the betrayal of the man
of belief at the hands of those who are without any belief. In this kingdom of
spirit he visualizes the three crosses on Calvary, one of Christ and the other
two of the two "male-factors". He also has the vision of Christ
riding a white horse and of Judas betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver,
and the Roman dicing for the robes of Christ after the Crucifixion. These
memories of the misdeeds of men without belief engage his mind for a while and
he realized that the secret of his quest is not revealed to him as yet and so
he continues his exploration. At the end of the day he finds himself in a place
from where he looks back to the region, he has traversed and feels satisfied
with the advance he has made.
The positive gain of the journey is the
affirmation of the belief that for the spiritual rejuvenation the overcoming of
the sensual aspect of life is essential. "Journey of the Magi" is
inspired by the story in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. One of the Magi
recounts the arduous journey they undertook to witness the Birth which was
'hard and bitter agony' for them. The journey is beset with the same kinds of
temptations as are hinted at in "Ash Wednesday", and similar regrets
for the summer palaces or slopes, the terraces, and the silken girls bringing
sherbet. The New Birth does not bring unalloyed joy because the transition from
the old to the new is accompanied by pain. It is a kind of experience referred
to by Jung in his Psychological Types: 'The birth of the deliverer is
equivalent to a great catastrophe since a new and powerful life issues forth
just when no life or force or new development was anticipated'.
‘Journey of the Magi’ by T. S. Eliot
(1888-1965) was the first of a series of poems written by the poet for his
employer, the publisher Faber and Faber, composed for special booklets or
greetings cards which were issued in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Eliot
wrote ‘Journey of the Magi’ in 1927, on a single day, one Sunday after church.
You can read the poem here. Below we offer some notes towards an analysis of
this difficult and elusive poem, with particular focus on its meaning and
imagery.
‘Journey of the Magi’ is told from the
perspective of one of the Magi (commonly known as the ‘Three Wise Men’, though
the Bible makes no mention of their number or gender) visiting the infant
Christ. The poem examines the implications that the advent of Christ had for
the other religions of the time, chiefly the Zoroastrianism of the Magi
themselves. Eliot converted to Christianity in 1927, the same year he wrote
‘Journey of the Magi’, so this is an apt poem for him to have written shortly
after his acceptance into the Church of England.
According to Eliot’s second wife, Valerie, he
wrote the poem very quickly: ‘I had been thinking about it in church,’ he told
her years later, ‘and when I got home I opened a half-bottle of Booth’s Gin,
poured myself a drink, and began to write. By lunchtime, the poem, and the
half-bottle of gin, were both finished.’ The title of the poem is significant,
not least Eliot’s use of the word ‘Magi’: think about its very foreignness and
its ambiguity (the term originally denoted Persian Zoroastrian priests, but had
come to carry the more general meaning of ‘astrologers’ – or, if you like,
magicians). This foreign and alien quality is obviously related to what the
poem is about: namely, one group of people becoming alienated by the coming of
another group, the people who will, in time, follow the new religion of
Christianity which will lead to the death of the religions the Magi, or
astrologers, follow. The Magi are like the ‘hollow men’ of Eliot’s poem of that
title from two years before: together, they find they are alienated from the
rest of the world, in some sort of between-existence or limbo (because the
world is in a transition between their old Zoroastrian faith and the new,
emerging faith of Christianity which will supersede it).
Journey of the Magi Here is a brief summary of
‘Journey of the Magi’.
The opening quotation comes from one of Bishop
Lancelot Andrewes’ Nativity sermons, preached at Christmas during the 1620s.
The speaker, one of the Magi, talks about the difficulties encountered by the
Magi during the course of their journey to see the infant Christ. It is
unconventional to focus on the details of the journey: their longing for home
(and for the ‘silken girls’ bringing the sweet drink known as ‘sherbet’), their
doubts about the point of the journey they’re undertaking, the unfriendly
people in the villages where they stop over for the night, and so on.
Eventually, the Magi arrive at the place where the infant Christ is to be
found. The poem ends with the poem’s speaker reflecting on the journey years later,
saying that if he had the chance he would do it again, but he would add that we
remains unsure about the precise significance of the journey and what they
found when they arrived. Was it the birth of a new world (Christianity) or the
death of an old one (i.e. the Magi’s own world)? The speaker then reveals that,
since he returned home following his visit to see the infant Christ, he and his
peers have felt uneasy living among his people, who now seem to be ‘an alien
people clutching their gods’ (in contrast to the worshippers of the newly
arrived Jesus, who worship one god only, in the form of the Messiah). The
speaker ends by telling us that he is resigned to die now, glad of ‘another
death’ (his own) to complement the death of his cultural and religious beliefs,
which have been destroyed by his witnessing the baby Jesus.
There are several things which are odd about
Eliot’s poem. First, for a poem titled ‘Journey of the Magi’, there is no
mention of the star which – the Gospels and a million children’s nativity plays
tell us – guided the Magi to the spot where Christ lay in a manger. Second, the
actual nativity scene itself is elided from the narrative: the Magi travel to
the place where Christ is to be found, locate it, and then suddenly the speaker
of the poem is looking back on the journey years later as an old man. Jesus
himself is absent from the poem. Is this because this part of the story is
familiar to us, but the Magi themselves are not – or specifically, how the Magi
would have felt about seeing their deeply-held beliefs cast into doubt by this
new Messiah? Yet surely one way to convince us of the impact of this new-born
deity on the lives of these Persian astrologers would have been to show us how
they reacted when faced with the baby Christ. There are several possible
reasons why Eliot would have chosen to leave Jesus out of the poem, but they
all raise additional questions.
Note also how the imagery foreshadows Christ’s
later life and crucifixion: the three trees suggesting Christ’s crucifixion,
between two thieves on the mountain; the vine, to which Jesus will liken
himself; the pieces of silver foreshadowing the thirty pieces of silver Judas
Iscariot will receive for betraying him; the wine-skins foreshadowing the wine
that Jesus would beseech his disciples to drink in memory of him at the Last
Supper. These details are significant not least because the speaker is a priest
or astrologer, someone who is trained to look for significance in the things
around him, to read and interpret signs as symbols or omens. But he fails to
pick up on what they foreshadow; we, however, living in a Christian (or even a
post-Christian) society, can read their significance. At the end, the speaker
is left feeling jaded and lost by the advent of Christ: he wonders whether
Christ’s birth has been a good thing, since his arrival in the world signaled
the death of his religion and the religion of his people. Now, he and his
fellow Magi are world-weary and welcome the end.
‘Journey of the Magi’ is partly about
belonging, about social, tribal, and religious belonging: the speaker of the poem
reflects sadly that the coming of Christ has rendered his own gods and his own
tribe effete, displaced, destined to be overtaken by the advent of Christ –
and, with him, Christianity. It is tempting to see the poem – written in the
year Eliot converted to Anglo-Catholicism – as a metaphor for Eliot’s own
feelings concerning secularism and the Christian religion, Christianity having
itself been rendered effete in the face of Darwin, modern physics, and secular
philosophy. The poem, about a people’s conversion from one religion to another,
is equally bound up with Eliot’s own conversion. However, a more nuanced
reading invites us to see the poem as an account of the ways in which every
religious and ethnic identity is in some sense threatened, at some time or in
some place, by other, more dominant groups and identities. A possible allusion
to Othello’s ‘Set you down this’ (his dying words in Shakespeare’s play) points
up the religious and ethnic differences which underlie the poem’s setting:
Othello, like Eliot, had converted to Christianity, since he was a Muslim moor
who converted when he joined the Christian world of Venice. (It should be
noted, though, that there is an alternative source for these lines in Eliot’s
poem: in one of his sermons, Lancelot Andrewes writes, ‘Secondly, set down
this’. As with many allusions in Eliot’s poetry, there are several possible
sources which Eliot may be calling into play.)
The poem, then, is not just about religious
identity but about broader issues of ethnic and cultural identity, too. Note
how the poem doesn’t mention Christ’s name anywhere, or that the infant they
are travelling to see is Jesus: it doesn’t need to be said. Then recall the
foreignness of ‘Magi’ in that title. The Magi are already ‘other’, the alien ones
or outsiders: when the speaker tells us at the end that they returned to ‘our
places, these Kingdoms’, it is tempting to see the poem as in some sense a
development of ‘The Hollow Men’, which was also about a group of men feeling
lost and empty in a ‘kingdom’ where they appear to long for death.
It is undoubtedly this multifaceted quality to
the poem which helped it to become one of the nation’s favourite poems in 1996
(it was no. 44 on the list – one higher than the childhood favourite by Edward
Lear, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’). ‘Journey of the Magi’ is a more accessible
poem than some of T. S. Eliot’s other work, yet it remains a challenging piece
of poetry in many ways. It is only through analysing some of its images and
more curious details that we can begin to appreciate it at a deeper level.
Journey of the Magi Summary and Analysis of Journey
of the Magi
The title of the poem refers to a “journey.”
This word means an act of traveling from one place to another, but also, in a
metaphorical sense, the long and often difficult process of personal change and
development.
"Journey of the Magi" begins with a
quotation from a Christmas sermon, which establishes the initial choral voice
of the poem: the Persian kings who crossed the desert in winter to honor the
birth of the baby Jesus. In the quotation, the magi, speaking in a plural
"we," describe how the journey was difficult for them physically,
emotionally, and spiritually. This quotation leads into a longer description of
the difficulties of the journey.
The second stanza begins with a new dramatic beat:
The dark night of the soul has passed, and it is now the dawn of a new day,
literally and spiritually. The Magi descend into the fertile Judean valley.
This stanza is full of Biblical allusions. The Magi find the manger where Jesus
was born.
The third stanza switches to the voice of a singular
Magus, who is reminiscing about the journey. (In retrospect, this could mean
that the entire poem was written from a first-person perspective, but there was
no way to know that before this point). He evaluates the experience, deciding
that he “would do it again,” but then wonders at the paradox that the birth of
Jesus was also a death. This death refers to both the death of Christ and the
death of the old religious order, including the magical power of the Magus. He
ends the poem wishing for another death, which represents both suicidal despair
and an anticipation of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, ushering in a new
Christian era.
Analysis
"Journey of the Magi" opens with a
quote about a journey, and it's a cold and difficult one. From the title of the
poem, we can guess that this is the journey of the Three Kings (or Three Wise
Men, or Magi) to the birthplace of Jesus. After the opening quote, the poem
elaborates on the difficulties of travel, including grumpy camels, wishing for
home (home being warm, palatial, and full of girls and servants), fires going
out, unfriendly and expensive towns, and a distinct lack of places to sleep.
The speaker notes that the Magi preferred to just travel all night for these
reasons, and that through their travels, a little voice in their heads kept
suggesting that maybe this whole thing was all for nothing.
Then, the narrator goes on to tell of the
Magi's arrival in Bethlehem, a place he describes as "a temperate
valley" (21). They still can't find any info about where they were
supposed to go from the villagers, however, so they eventually have to find the
stable in which they were to witness the birth of the baby Jesus. The trio
arrives just in time.
The last part of the poem is more blatantly the
Magus reminiscing about the story ("all this was a long time ago, I
remember" [32]), and in his recollection he seems to be doubtful about
whether or not the birth was a good or a bad thing, replacing as it would his
own religion and culture. In fact, at the end of the poem he seems to regard it
as a bad thing indeed, with the Magus wishing for his own death alongside the
death of his peoples' old religion and ways.
Stanza 1
Lines 1-5
"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,
The very
dead of winter."
v Bizarre. The opening lines are in
quotes, as though the speaker of the poem is actually quoting someone else. Why
would this be so?
v A little Googling and, lo and
behold, these opening lines are a quote. From a really old (1622) Nativity
sermon by one Lancelot Andrewes.
v Lancelot Andrewes, as it turns out,
was a prominent scholar and clergyman in the Church of England during the
reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, respectively. Andrewes oversaw the
translation of the King James Bible (which is still, today, one of the most
popular translations of the book), and was famous for his sermons.
v Stuff on Early Modern preachers
aside, these lines, along with the title, set up for us what this poem is going
to be about—that is, the Magis' trek to Bethlehem, where Jesus is about to be
born.
v The implication is that they're
coming from a ways away (the Magi, as far as we can tell, are probably from
around Persia, pretty far east of present-day Israel), and that the weather is
particularly nasty because they're making this important journey in the dead of
winter. Christmas? Well that's December 25.
v This makes sense.
v A note on this poem's somewhat
complicated narrative technique before we get any further: as the scholar
Daniel Harris has noted, the voice here is referring to something that he can't
possibly know about. How could a Magus, presumably traveling in the year one,
know to quote a sermon from the year 1622?
v This kind of thing keeps happening
throughout the poem. The New Testament, which is written way after the Magi die,
is referenced a few times, as is Christ's death. We call this technique
anachronism.
v Harris notes that this broadens the
scope of the poem-as-narration, i.e., that it's told by a Magus, sure, but
there's also something beyond the Magus that is also telling the story, a
ghostly present-figure, who can quote a sermon from 1622. We'll go ahead and
agree with him because we like the creepiness of that theory, and also the ways
in which it expands the possibilities of the poem.
Lines 6-10
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.
v Now we've got just the voice of the
Magus, telling us more specifically about the hardships of their journey.
v First things first: the mode of
transportation is a little grumpy. The camels are "galled," which can
mean annoyed or provoked, or it can mean that they're chafing under their
saddles.
v They're so grumpily uncomfortable
that they're "refractory" which means they just do the
camel-equivalent of raising a white flag. They sit down in the snow (remember,
it's Christmas Eve) and refuse to go any farther.
v The narrator goes on to tell us
about where they've come from—"summer palaces," on (presumably lush
and green) hillsides, with servant girls "bringing sherbet" (an
Iranian drink).
v The gist here is that the Magi lead
pretty cushy lives when they're not busy trekking through the countryside in
the middle of winter looking for a baby who might be everyone's savior.
v But what's with the
"regret?" Think of it this way: if you decide to run a marathon, but
then sit around and maybe walk a few miles a day in order to train for that
marathon, you're sure going to regret that laziness, and your lack of training
on the day of the race.
v Not that the Magi knew that they
were going to be called upon to find the birthplace of Christ and could
"train" accordingly. But all the same, they're suffering in the cold,
and looking back on it, maybe all that luxury was a little excessive. They
might have been a little better prepared for this kind of thing—you know, a
little manlier about it.
v But regret can also just refer to
grief about something that's lost. So maybe they're just grieving about the
lack of sherbet and hot chicks on the road. To which we say: suck it up, Magi.
You've got a ways to go.
Lines 11-15
Then the
camel men cursing and grumbling
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
And the
villages dirty, and charging high prices:
v More hardship. Now the guys that were
supposed to be handling the camels are getting grumpy, too, to the point where
in some cases they're just abandoning the Magi altogether.
v The camel men who remain are
complaining that they'd really like a drink and a girl.
v Plus the nights are so cold and damp
that they can't even keep a fire going, and they're really only trying to keep
a fire going because there's no room at the inn. (Hey! That sounds familiar,
and it should, because that's why Jesus is being born in a manger. Joseph and
Mary were turned away from every inn in Bethlehem. There's that shadowy
author-voice again, making allusions to things that are outside the Magus's
knowledge.)
v And even if there were room at the
inn, it would probably be kind of awful anyways, because the cities nearby are
downright "hostile" (think mean on steroids), and the towns aren't
quite hostile but they're not really very nice either, and the villages are
just filthy and everyone charges too much.
v Overall? This journey is a boatload
of not-very-much-fun-at-ALL-thank-you.
Lines 16-20
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.
v In a slight echo of the first line,
the narrator reiterates that all this describing he's just done is, in fact,
illustrative of a pretty awful time for all.
v As if to put a point on the subject,
we then find out that at the end of the day (figuratively and literally
speaking, we suppose), the Magi and their crew decide simply to travel the
whole night. They only pause to sleep when absolutely necessary, rather than
drag out their journey any longer than they absolutely have to.
v In the meantime, throughout all of
this hardship, there's the Magi-equivalent of "the little voice inside my
head"—think those angels and devils that pop up on cartoons' shoulders and
whisper contradictory things while the character is trying to make a decision.
v This time, though, it's just one
voice, a voice that's trying to tell them "that this was all folly,"
meaning a giant mistake, or a stupid idea.
v The word "this," though,
seems a little vague at first look. We're led to ask, "what was all
folly?"
v Presumably, we can figure that
"this" refers to the journey itself, that traveling all this way was
a mistake. This would seem to imply, then, that the Magi doubt whether or not
there actually is some stable that contains a manger that happens to be housing
the savior of the free and not-free world. (Put that way, who could blame them
for being skeptical?)
v So really, when you look at it, the
voice at the end of this stanza really is like the little devil on the cartoon
shoulder, because it contradicts the voice of an actual (according to the
Bible) angel that had, days prior, told them to go and follow a star in the sky
and bring gifts to a baby savior who would be born in a barn in Bethlehem.
Again, put this way, the doubting voice sounds like it's actually the one
offering reason. But the Magi push on, just in case.
Stanza 2
Lines 21-24
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,
v After the Magi have pushed on
miserably all night, they end up at "a temperate valley." The word
temperate in this case means mild, climate-wise. It's a welcome contrast to the
wintry weather that the Magi have just plodded through to get there.
v The whole "smelling of
vegetation" thing further enhances the decidedly non-winter atmosphere.
It's like the seasons have suddenly changed.
v Wait a minute. That doesn't really
happen in real life. Not if you're traveling by camel anyway. So what's going
on here? It seems like maybe, just maybe, this could be symbolic for
something—the coming of the baby Jesus, perhaps? Something like salvation? That
could certainly be depicted as a sudden movement from winter to spring.
v So there's that shadowy
other-narrator-guy again, speaking through the Magus in such a way that we're
all "Hey! Symbolism!" even though the Magus himself sure doesn't know
he's being symbolic.
v The passage continues to elaborate
upon the mild surroundings of the area (presumably Bethlehem's general
vicinity) before them. It's got a running stream (so it's not frozen), and it's
civilized (hence the water mill). All in all? Not too shabby.
v The last line of this passage is a
little weird, though. Why only three trees on the horizon? If this is such a
lush valley, the singling-out of three particular trees seems a little odd.
v Unless, that is, we return to our
trusty Bible, and recall that, when Jesus was crucified, he wasn't the only one
receiving capital punishment. There were two thieves flanking him. That's right
– there were three crosses on that hill.
v Of course, this is yet another image
that projects way into the future. The Magus, in his observation as a
character, technically could have no way of knowing that the baby he was about
to go see would be crucified thirty-three years later. But Eliot does—and it's
Eliot that's writing the Magus's monologue. The dual-narrator surfaces again.
And he's going to stay with us for the rest of this stanza.
Lines 25-28
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 an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet
kicking the empty wine-skins.
v The last observation of the valley
that we get before the Magi head down into the town itself is this "old
white horse."
v Since we're in symbolism mode, we'll
take a few stabs at what this might mean (we'll go into way more detail in the
"Symbolism, Imagery, Wordplay" section, so head over there if you
want the whole enchilada).
v The adjectives "old" and
"white" sound a little like they might symbolize the conventional
Christian God—you know, the ancient dude with the flowing white beard and the
white robes.
v But what about the "horse"
part? God's never depicted as a horse, as far as we know. Are there any
Biblical horses, in general?
v In fact, there are, but they're
decidedly less friendly than an old man in a robe. The most famous horses in
the Bible are probably the four horses of the Apocalypse, that come down to
cleanse the Earth of sinners in Revelation (which is the wackiest and scariest
part of the Bible, by the way).
v So we have a conventional, gentle
image of God combined with an animal that, in the Bible, wreaks havoc on
humanity. Hmm. That's new.
v Keep in mind, though, that the horse
is running "away" from the scene. This detail could be significant.
Maybe it's God, having bestowed his son upon the earth, retreating for a while.
And maybe the apocalyptic horse is being driven away for the time being. Maybe
it's Gandalf and Shadowfax. Maybe not.
v Back to the poem. The Magi come to a
tavern (which usually doubled as inns in those days), where they see a few guys
gambling over some dice.
v They may well be a little tipsy,
too, because there's mention of "empty wine-skins." In this case, a
"wine-skin" is a bag used way back in the day to hold wine.
v It was, ickily enough, usually made
out of the stomach or skin of a goat or cow. Hence the "skin" part.
v We've also got some more sneaky
religious allusions at work here.
v First, there's that word lintel,
which alludes to the story of Passover from Exodus 12, in which God instructed
the Israelites to splash blood over their doors (on the lintel) to protect
their first born children.
v Then we've got those six pieces of
silver to deal with. This just might be an allusion to the Gospel of Matthew,
in which Judas is paid thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus.
v Oh, Eliot. You're almost too clever
for your own good, packing all that religion into these few lines.
Lines 29-31
But there
was no information, and so we continued
And arrived
at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the
place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
v The first part of this passage seems
to indicate that the Magi asked the guys in the doorway whether or not they
knew of the location of the stable where Jesus was to be born.
v And—surprise, surprise—it turns out
the drunks at the local watering hole don't have a clue. So the Magi soldier
on.
v It takes them all day to get to the
stable. Apparently the inn wasn't in Bethlehem at all.
v Notice how the narrator never says
the word "stable" or "manger" or "barn" or
anything else that would indicate what kind of place they were trying to find.
v It's as though the narrator simply
assumes that his audience will know what the Magi have been searching for
(which—let's face it—we do).
v Apparently they arrive just in the
nick of time, too, though we're not yet sure as to whether this means just
before the birth or just after it.
v So they've found the place, they've
arrived. And then the Magus-narrator says something incredibly peculiar:
"it was (you may say) satisfactory."
v What on earth does this mean? The
parenthetical aside almost makes the Magus sound a little snarky, like
"yeah, it was a barn, whatever," which seems strange, given the fact
that the Magi are well aware that they're headed to see the birth of a savior
(though a savior of what kind, they're not sure). We mean, shouldn't that be
kind of a big deal?
v So you'd think that finding a baby
in a manger wouldn't prompt something more along the lines of
"spectacular!" than "satisfactory." Maybe the Magus is just
grateful that the baby's alive, that the barn was "satisfactory"
enough to ensure at least that much.
v But again, it's Eliot, and we're
thinking there's more to it than that. For more Biblical digging, see
"Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay." We won't disappoint.
Stanza 3
Lines 32-36
All this
was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would
do it again, but set down
This set
down
This: were
we led all that way for
Birth or
Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
v The beginning of this stanza rockets
us forward in time, or just suddenly wakes us up to the fact that this story is
being told way after the actual journey took place, as if the narrator's
sitting by a fire in his old age, mulling over the events.
v Now, in the present, he notes that
he "would do it again." So even through the hardship and the grumpy
camels and the uncertainty, he views the journey as worthwhile in retrospect.
v Oh, but here comes a
"but," and he further emphasizes that the "but" clause is
super important by telling us Shmoopers not once but twice to "set down
this."
v That's slightly old-fashioned
language for "write this down."
v Side note! The "set down this"
bit is a subtle reference to Shakespeare's Othello. For more on this, be sure
to swing on by our "Shout Outs" page.
v Turns out, the Magus has an
important question that's still bugging him: "were we led all the way for
/ Birth or Death?"
v He begins to answer his own question
by saying that there was indeed a birth, referring to the birth of Jesus, of
course. But what about the Death thing?
v It's an ominous question with a
couple of implications. One can be "led to one's death," and it is
now plausible (though, given the life spans of people at that time, not
entirely probable) that the Magus is speaking from a time after Jesus' death.
v If this question is so important,
though, we're betting that the Magus is going to elaborate on what he might
mean by this whole Birth/Death thing. Let's see.
Lines 37-39
We had
evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had
thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and
bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
v Here we go: a whole passage devoted
to the explanation of what the Magus means when he asks whether they had come
so far to witness a birth or a death.
v The narrator reiterates that they
had, in fact, seen a literal birth. No one was doubting that there was actually
a newborn baby in that manger.
v He seems to be indicating, then,
that he's speaking metaphorically about the whole death thing.
v He goes on to say that he has
"seen birth and death"—and we're pretty sure he means that literally,
this time—but then goes on to say that he "had thought they were
different." Interesting…
v The implication here is that
whatever he witnessed in that barn in Bethlehem changed the way he thought
about birth and death. Previously he'd thought of them as different—even
opposite—things, and now he's not so sure anymore.
v But he doesn't stop there. The Magus
says that the Birth (notice the capitalization, a la, Jesus, Lord and Savior,
etc.) was actually "hard and bitter agony" for all of the Magi.
v In fact, it was so agonizing that
the Magus compares it to Death (again with the capitalization. Could that
possibly be another premonition of the Crucifixion?), and then goes on to say
"our death." Since he's still alive, we can assume he's gone back to
talking about death figuratively.
v Here, the Magus shows his full hand,
and reveals that the birth of Jesus signaled the end of an era. What era? The
one in which people like the Magi and their particular religion and culture
were the ones in power.
v So while they were compelled
(literally!) to go and bring gifts to this child that an angel had called a
King, they were also bringing gifts to the very person who would grow up to
establish, quite literally, a new world order. An order that didn't include the
Magi and their ways.
v If that's not as close as one can
get to dying without actually dying, we're not sure what is.
Lines 40-43
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.
v At this point, the Magus goes back
to telling the story, saying that after the birth of Jesus, the Magi packed up
all their stuff and headed back to their respective palaces. Sherbet, here they
come.
v Their return, however, was far from
celebratory – instead of bringing back awesome news, it seems as though they
came back disconsolate (i.e., miserable, intensely uncomfortable, and way down
in the dumps).
v The middle part of this passage
elaborates upon that a little bit, as the Magus details more about "the
old dispensation"—which basically means the old ways, and specifically in
this case, the old religion—and his subjects, who now seem to him like "an
alien people" clutching false idols.
v So the Magi come back to their same
kingdoms, but in their eyes, the whole place has changed. They've seen the
coming of a new kind of power, and it's not their power. Suddenly, their entire
culture seems poised on the brink of utter irrelevance. Bummer, dude.
v All this news is stressful to the
max. So stressful and horrific, in fact, that the Magus ends his tale by
wishing for another death. This time, though, it's literal, and it's his own.
Yikes.
v But wait! Couldn't he also be
referring to the death of the baby Jesus? That might be one sinister way of
interpreting that last line, but there's no mention of anger in the poem, more
like a kind of bleak resignation. Or if you wanted to put a more positive spin
on it, you could say that he's waiting for the death of Christ because the
Crucifixion and Resurrection bring with them all kinds of good stuff for the
earth—redemption and forgiveness and all that jazz.
