This powerful poem describes the memories, and feelings, particular to one of the three wise men that traveled to visit the newly born baby Jesus. Written in 1927, T. S. Eliot began constructing this poem shortly after he joined the Anglican Church. This may be why this particular poem is so moving. The poem uses neither rhyme scheme nor rhyming. This writing also has no iambic pentameter. However, the poet does use allusion and is filled with biblical foreshadowing. Journey of the Magi is written to mimic the style of a story and could just as easily be mistaken for one.
In Journey of the Magi, a now badly aged wise men reminisces on the most important journey ever taken by the Magi. In the first part of the story, the Magi recalls how horrible the conditions of his travel was. He then goes on to tell how crude his guides were acting. From lines 1-20 the Magi thinks nothing but of hardships and complaints which he held. Then in the next stanzas the mood quickly transforms from mild agony into tentative eagerness. In theses next lines the story slowly transitions into an all out brigade of foreshadowing. While the Magi was traveling down a temperate valley he noticed "three trees on the low sky." These trees perhaps represent the three crosses that were present at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The poem then reads, "And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow." In Revelation 19:11, the white horse is the horse which Christ is to ride on his Second Coming. The Magi then opens a door which six hands eagerly as for sliver pieces. This may portray the amount of silver pieces Peter traded Jesus for. Much more can be said on the matter of biblical foreshadowing, but that shall be saved for another time.
The last part of the poem describes how he feels in his present state. He asks the question "... were we led all that way for Birth or Death?" He realized what Jesus' purpose was on earth, and that he would be born to serve the purpose of dying. After seeing the Birth, he returned home with a sense of uneasiness. This is because the area in which the Magi lived there were many religions around him. He knew that they would all most likely not be "saved." However, he is content with death because of all that he has seen.