To understand this poem, one has to understand the impact that Christ had on the World. At the time of his birth, however, the known world was not stable; people worshipped many gods, and we get a full description of the way life was by the Magus who narrates his story of their journey to Bethlehem to witness the end of an era and the birth of a new one.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Bible, "contrition is a penitent's spiritual sorrow for the sins he has committed, and it necessarily includes hatred for such sins, as well as the determination to avoid them in the future." In the fi

rst stanza, this "spiritual sorrow" is apparent by the contrast Eliot uses, of the Magi's 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 climatic statement of the stanza: "A hard time we had of it" (line 16). The Magus talks of their sorrowful past life of ease, the times they "regretted...the silken girls bringing sherbet" (lines 8-10), and in the same way that they are 'physically' moving towards Christ, they feel they are progressing spiritually, putting a personal ban on the sinful lives they have had. This act of contrition seems genuine because they are pressured by the "voices singing in [their] ears, saying/ 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 wise men to cease their foolish journey and fall, once again, into spiritual degeneration. In the end, the difficulty of the journey comes to remind the Magi of their previous life and thus urges them forward.

With an alien people clutching their gods.

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.

In this light, we can see Eliot's embodiment of the three stages of the Sacrament, but we might ask why he rearranged the order of these stages. Instead of beginning with contrition and ending in satisfaction, (an order which might indicate fulfilment of the Sacrament and an end to the process of perfection) Eliot opens with contrition in stanza one, moves on to satisfaction in stanza two, and then concludes with co

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1241
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)