Eliot’s spiritual quest in The Journey of the Magi

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Recommended: Examine the significance of the Journey of the Magi by T.S Eliot

The Journey of the Magi, by T. S. Eliot is a poem written in the modern period. In this poem, the author illustrates a journey, a cold one, in which three people travel to a specific destination and there seems to be a lot of agony and sufferance throughout their journey. Although there seems to be a lot of obstacles and challenges in the road for the travelers, they seem to have a mission, an objective, a place to reach. The word Magi used in the title of this poem refers to the three mages that traveled to meet baby Jesus in Bethlehem on the day of His birth. Even though it might be obvious that the author explains a story known by many (the story of Jesus), he discusses challenging topics such as life and death using a ton of allusions. Despite all the beautiful imagery used in this poem which makes it a memorable one, it is noticeable that behind all these allusions, the author gives a glance of his spiritual struggles and his own divine journey.
Eliot hides his thoughts in the first 10 lines by mentioning details of non-importance matter. The first five lines underline the rough weather that was at the time of “the journey”, the author subtly evoke a profound disgust of the Magi to keep traveling through the very extreme weather conditions. Lines 6 -7 list the challenges faced by the magi and the souvenir of better times, the author uses a lot of imagery to illustrate the severity of what the Magi what was happening at that time; he mentions how the animals were lying down with their foot hurting , which shows fatigue and discouragement to continue the journey. The three following lines 8-10 describe the imagery of a season which brings souvenirs of better places and deep regret. With the very detailed imagery used by Eliot...

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...t Jesus Christ; the journey represents the life of a person before and after meeting His Savior Jesus Christ. The author uses a lot of imagery to give his audience an idea of the endless sufferance before meeting Christ and when the destination (Christ) is reached there comes satisfaction, rest and peace.
Furthermore, Eliot goes even further in lines 32-36 he shows admiration for the journey because for him it was really important and because he knows how pleasing it was to meet Jesus, he even mentions Birth and Death. In the ending lines, he speaks about another perspective of Death, like Death is now worth it because of the journey of the Magi which represents his own journey meeting Jesus Christ. He expresses his fulfillment in Jesus in the last two lines when he says :
“With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death” (lines 42-23)

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