Magi Is an Analogy Comparing

¶ … Magi is an analogy comparing the journey undergone by the magus who visited Jesus upon his birth, with the journey the author, T.S. Eliot, endured when converting to Christianity.

Parallels of the journeys of the magi and the author

Dichotomies within these parallels

Hope and disappointment

Joy and sadness

Faith and despair

Literal and Metaphorical Interpretations

Literal journey of the magi enduring hardship while maintaining faith

Metaphorical journey of the author enduring hardship while maintaining faith

Arrival at the Destination

Initial feelings of joy and wonderment

Inevitable feelings of disappointment

Parallel Journeys of Hope and Disenchantment

The Journey of the Magi is an analogy comparing the journey undergone by the magus who visited Jesus upon his birth, with the journey the author, T.S. Eliot, endured when converting to Christianity. Both journeys were long and tedious. Both were filled with the dichotomies of hope and disappointment; joy and sadness; faith and despair. And ultimately, both journeys signified the birth and death of established beliefs.

The persona of the magi who is visiting Jesus is literally enduring the cold, harsh winter, and the pain of walking for mile after mile during "the worst time of the year" (line 2). The dual persona of the author is experiencing these hardships metaphorically as he searches for meaning in life and religion, feeling as if he has a destination, but unsure if he has the strength to persevere and reach that end. This is the torment he endured before converting to Christianity.

Throughout the literal journey of the magi, as well as the metaphorical journey of the poet, mixed feelings about whether the journey will be worth the trouble abound:

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 (lines 16-20).

As these lines from the poem demonstrate, the "hard time" both personas are experiencing during their journey is generating doubt as to whether their expedition is "all folly," or in other words, a complete waste of time. Just as the magi had to have faith that he was traveling for the purposes of witnessing a miracle and not just falling for ruse, the author had to have faith that his search for meaning would eventually reward him with answers. Faith can be a difficult thing to maintain during hardship, and both the magi and the author were rewarded for their faith when they "came to a temperate valley" (line 21).

The valley in the poem represents the warmth of feeling that one's faith has been justified. To transition from a seemingly endless journey through bleak and barren terrain, to a bountiful land "smelling of vegetation/With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness," naturally creates a feeling of accomplishment and joy in both personas. Unfortunately, the reward that was being sought is not as miraculous as was originally expected: "it was (you may say) satisfactory" (line 31).