Journey Of The Magi
...rney is to witness the birth of christ, the use of 'dead' foreshadows both the death of the magi's old way of life and also the death of christ. Eliot uses a significant contrast in the poem, where he changes focus from the difficulties of the journey to the rich decodent lives the magi lived before embarking on the journey. "The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces and the silken girls bringing sherbet." Eliot's effective use of sibilance creates a rich feeling and informs the reader of the wealthy, care-free and afluent lifestyles of the magi before being forced into a life full of difficulties and hardships. This contrast effectively conveys the previous luxurious lifestyles of the magi. At this point the magi are reflecting on their lives before the journey. In lines eleven to fifteen, Eliot introduces a list of all the terrible things that happened. The repitition of 'and' in this list effectively emphasises the many hardships the magi suffered on their journey. The magi are again refelecting on the difficulties of their journey. Eliot cleverly uses sibilance to mimic natural speech. "Sleeping in snatches" The sibilance here emphasises the lack of sleep the magi had while on their journey. The mimicing of natural speech in this poem creates an informal and personal tone to the reader. This is a very suitable way of dealing with the subject matter in the poem as it brings the reader closer to the thoughts and actions of the magi. Lines one to nineteen conveyed the determination of the magi but the last line contrasts this idea. "this was all folly" This clearly contrasts the determination of the magi as it suggests they think that although the end result was worth their sacrifices, they have often thought it a mistake. Their mixed feelings reinforce the reflective tone as they look back on the event and wonder what life would be like if they had not gone on the journey. The second stanza highlights the magi's disappointment when arriving at Bethlehem and shows them reflecting on these disappointments, this is made clear through the aproppriate change in tone. "below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; with a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness." The change in tone from regretful to hopeful shows that the journey is soon coming to an end. This is a contrast from stanza one where the magi reflect on the difficulties of the journey. Eliot uses symbolism in this poem to cleverly foreshadow the crucifiction of christ. "Three trees on the low sky and an old white horse galloped away in the meadow, a tavern with vine leaves over the lintel, six hands at an open door dicing for pecies of silver" The symbolism at this point is clearly foreshadowing the crucifiction of christ as the three trees symbolise the three crosses where jesus and two bandits were to be crucified. The white horse symbolises the all conquering saviour from the book of revelations. The vine-leaves symbolise christ's blood as on his last night he drank wine with his desciples and told them to look at it as his blood, also the lintel symbolises the cross. The six hands symbolise the roman soldiers who gambled for christ's clothes. The dice also suggests this. Eliot uses a semi-colon to introduce a pause where an anticlimax follows. "Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory" This anticlimactic sentence portrays the disapointment of the magi when arriving at bethlehem. The parenthesis used in this sentence reinforces the conversational tone and style of the poem . The final stanza is the most reflective of all the stanzas, as the magi contempla...