The name of the poem being analyzed in this paper is called “Journey of the Magi” by T.
S. Eliot; the author uses symbolism, imagery, third person and wordplay to 1illustrate the main
theme which Historical change. He tries to depict a man (his narrator) who has lost all his
bearings in life and conformed to a new phase of life that he finds hard to abandon.
The symbolism can be noted as the most preferred method for the author in this poem to
illustrate the theme; he often applies them (symbolism) in his second stanza of the song. e.g.
1. ‘And three trees on the low sky’. This he uses to symbolize the three crosses at
Golgotha when Jesus Christ was crucified.
2. ‘Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver’. The author here illustrates the
pieces of silver gotten by Judas Iscariot after betraying his master to the Roman authorities.
The author uses the method of symbolism to let the reader see into the future of the
world. The narrator seems to see how his life is going to change once the messiah has been born
and his power exerted into the world.
Secondly, the author also uses imagery on several occasions in the poem e.g.
1. ‘And an old white horse galloped in away in the meadow.’ The author gives the
reader an image of the horse that is old and at the same time vanishing into the meadow. The
above imagery portrays a theme in that, the white and old represents God; in the narrators time,
God was accessible but there comes a time when he will be hard to find, especially fate the
apocalyptic horse.
Introduction
1 Thomas Eliot Stearns. The complete poems and plays of TS Eliot. (Faber & Faber, 2011), 2-50
Journey of the Magi is one of the five poems written by T.S. E Elliot for publication by
the British publishing house Faber and Gwyer in 19272 Eliot wrote the song one Sunday
afternoon after church, he had just recently become a Christian. The poem commences with a
sermon quote from Lancelot Andrews in 1622, he was a clergyman at the England Church who
supervised the full translation of King James Bible. The quote ideally, he assists the reader know
the actual theme of the poem. The implication, from the quote, is that of the Biblical three wise
men traveling from very far to Bethlehem to witness the birth of the Messiah (Jesus Christ). The
journey seems to be very tedious, and the weather is not friendly at all3.
In the view of the next lines in the first stanza, we realize that the poem is one of the
narratives from one of the Magi’s, presumably, they were kings and were not used to the bumpy
journey that they were experiencing4. The journey was hectic and tiresome such that their camels
got galled, tired, refractory, sore-footed and laid down on the molten snow. This is just an
indication that the camel riders had not prepared for the journey; they did not know what lay
ahead, there were even times when they regretted. But in this instance, it is not yet very clear
whether they regretted not carrying the girls along or whether they regretted their lost items. The
journey becomes more and fuller of hardships. The Magi’s seems to be abandoned by the camel
men who are demanding liquor and women. The weather is so cold, and the ground full of damp
that fires cannot withstand, yet they really have to keep the fire going because they have to sleep
outside. The town that they approached had no shelter, this further gives us the idea that this is
Bethlehem when Mary wanted to give birth to the Messiah, there were no any inns because the
town was full and so the Messiah had to be born in the manger since it was the only available
space. At this instance, we realize that there is that shadowy voice of the author who gives us an
2 Ibid, 10
3 Ibid ,20-30
4 Ibid, 34
allusion of what is in the head of the Magi. The lines sixteen to twenty, shows the Magis had
figuratively and decided to be traveling at night so that they won't elongate the journey any
further5.
The Magi recalls how they had encountered difficulties in the mission, by reminding us
of the initial lines of the song. They slept in the snatches, and there is a voice that kept coming to
all of them ‘that this was all folly.' Consequently, we can conclude that "this” in the song
illustrates the journey, and that the resulting journey was faulty. This then denotes that Magi
doubted if there is really a stable with manger where Jesus the savior of both the free and un-free
universe is being born6. The inner voice at this instance was perceived to be giving them an
element of doubt on the above journey process, and it seems like they already had an idea of
what lay ahead of them.
The second stanza of the poem uses metaphors and symbolism to illustrate the future life
of the Messiah. First, after a long ordeal in the dark, there is notable atmospheric variation, they
settled down on a temperate valley, this could mean that the weather became milder. We realize
at this instance and the next two lines i.e. “wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation.”7 of
the poem that the narrator is symbolizing the birth of the Messiah. Suddenly the mood in the
poem changes, as the narrator seems to forecast the future by seeing three trees on the low sky.
This clearly symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus Christ between two bandits. The Magis were
astrologers and could read the future; here we see another evidence of the poem referring to the
three wise men that traveled from the East to visit the baby Jesus. Looking at it in another
perspective this is just another visual representation of future projects. Magus, in his mere
5 Ibid 35
6 Ibid 35
7 Ibid 41
perspective, basically could not have any idea that the new born child he was about to see will
one-day face crucifixion. But Eliot does, for its him who wrote Magus's monologue.
The narrator surfaces over again, and he stays for the rest of the stanza, “And the old
white horse galloped in away in the meadow"8. This is a very interesting line, the ‘old,' and
‘white' could symbolize the rock of ages of Christians i.e. God and the horse could symbolize the
apocalyptic horse that was meant to bring suffering and be hostile to the human race. The line
could also symbolize the retreating of God from earth after he sacrifices his own son. The magi
approach a tavern that had people who were a bit drunk because there is the mention of empty
wineskins. The word “lintel” in the respective stanza can be attributed to the great Passover feast
illustrated in Exodus 12, where God told the Israelites to smear blood on their doorposts to
prevent the death of their firstborn sons9. The narrator also mentions pieces of silver, this eludes
the gospel of Mathew whereby one disciple of Jesus, Judas, betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of
silver, the man later killed himself. The Magi’s seems to be looking for information about where
they could find the room where the baby had been born; however, it appeared that the town
dwellers had no such information. They kept on searching until their effort yielded fruit.
The last stanza we realize that the Magi or the narrator is now an old man who left his
old ways and living a new life, this is apparently after seeing the Messiah. We see that he
wonders whether he and his companions those many years ago were led to birth or death.
Because they evidently saw birth i.e. they witnessed the birth of the Messiah. And they also saw
death. The death being referred to here is the end of their former religion. He narrates that when
they got back, they saw the people of their region as aliens, people worshipping their own gods
other than the one they had just encountered. Elliot used so many symbols, imagery, and
8 Ibid, 50
9 Ibid, 61
