TS Eliot still casts a considerable shadow over modern literature. His ability to express the dissatisfaction and angst of an entire epoch, while making use of new poetic forms and paying due homage to numerous traditions, distinguishes him from his contemporaries.
Poems like The Wasteland, The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, The Hollow Men and The Four Quartets elevated Eliot’s reputation to that of a cultural oracle, gaining him a hoard of literary awards including the coveted Nobel Prize. In 1927, he published our poem of the week, The Journey of the Magi. It was the first of five short poems published annually by Eliot, known together as the Ariel Poems.
The Journey of the Magi is the narrative of the three wise men travelling to Palestine to meet their messiah. It is written in the voice of one of the three and speaks of the terrible tribulations and occasional respites the fabled triad experienced on their way to honour the son of God. An unsettling realisation looms over the conclusion of the poem. The advent of this divine child signalled the end of their era. Paganism would be supplanted by the faith this boy was destined to inspire and the wise men were wise enough to see it.
Gladdened by the auguries of this supernatural occasion, the speaker consequently feels a powerlessness to prevent the coming conclusion of his time. The last line is spent expressing a sentiment many, if not most, readers will find particularly relevant this year –a feeling of incapability and alienation invoking an eagerness for a monumental end.
