Journey Of The Magi Essay -- essays research papers

T.S. Eliots Journey of the MagiThis Christmas poetry is about the Epiphany and was created the very year of Eliots change to Christianity (Fleisner, 66). Therefore the theme of religion is an important one if we ar to psychoanalyze the poem correctly. In the book of Ephesians in the Bible, Paul describes the reincarnation of the human being upon Christs death, 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 Sacrament of Penance repentance (guilt), confession and satisf serveion.To understand this poem, one has to understand the impact that Christ had on the World. At the time of his birth, however, the k nown world was not stable populate worshipped many gods, and we get a full description of the room life was by the Magus who narrates his story of their journey to Bethlehem to witness the end of an date a nd 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 disgust for such sins, as well as the determination to avoid them in the future." In the first stanza, this "spiritual sorrow" is apparent by the blood line Eliot uses, of the Magis difficult journey. In fact, the central focus of criticism has been on the journey the "cold coming" (line 1) during "the worst time of the year" (line 2), emphasising the climatical statement of the stanza "A hard time we had of it" (line 16). The Magus talks of their sorrowful away life of ease, the times they "regrettedthe silken girls bringing sherbet" (lines 8-10), and in the similar way that they are physically moving towards Christ, they feel they are progressing spiritually, putt a personal ban on the sinful lives they have had. This act of contrition seems genuine bec ause they are pressured by the "voices singing in their ears, verbal expression/ That this was all folly" (lines 19-20). These are the voices of the camel men, the hostile cities and the unfriendly towns, voices that tempt the impertinent men to cease their foolish journey and fall, once again, into spiritual degeneration. In the end, the difficulty of the jour... ...sinful ways and, second, that the Magi no longer blend with their people, who are now alien to them, "clutching their gods."The final sentence as well as multiplies in meaning, reiterating the theme of the poem that the search for perfection is a process only ending in death. On one level, the speaker wishes for his own death in coordinate to end this tiring process. On another, higher level, the speaker wishes for the death of Christ, for, ultimately, it is in Christs death that true satisfaction set up occur. Eliot also emphasises the speakers doubt over the Death and Rebirth in the poem, using & quotshould," which suggests both that he indeed "wants" another death in order to bring about spiritual renewal 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.