"Journey of the Magi" is a poem by T.S. Eliot, first published in 1927 in a series of pamphlets related to Christmas. The poem was written shortly after Eliot's conversion to the Anglican faith. Accordingly, though the poem is an allegorical dramatic monologue that inhabits the voice of one the magi (the three wise men who visit the infant Jesus), it's also generally considered to be a deeply personal poem. Indeed, the magus in the poem shares Eliot's view that spiritual transformation is not a comfort, but an ongoing process—an arduous journey seemingly without end. The magus's view on the birth of Jesus—and the shift from the old ways to Christianity—is complex and ambivalent.

• Read the full text of “Journey of the Magi”

• “Journey of the Magi” Summary

• “Journey of the Magi” Themes

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    Spiritual Death and Rebirth

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-43

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Journey of the Magi”

  • Lines 1-5

    'A cold coming ...
    ... dead of winter.'

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-10

    And the camels ...
    ... girls bringing sherbet.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-16

    Then the camel ...
    ... had of it.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    At the end ...
    ... was all folly.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-25

    Then at dawn ...
    ... in the meadow.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 26-31

    Then we came ...
    ... might say) satisfactory.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 32-36

    All this was ...
    ... Birth or Death?

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 36-39

    There was a ...
    ... Death, our death.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 40-43

    We returned to ...
    ... of another death.

    

    

    

    

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• “Journey of the Magi” Symbols

  • 

    Biblical Imagery

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 23: “running stream”
    • Line 24: “three trees on the low sky”
    • Line 25: “an old white horse”
    • Line 26: “vine-leaves”
    • Line 27: “pieces of silver”
    • Line 28: “empty wine-skins”

• “Journey of the Magi” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “cold coming”
    • Line 4: “ways,” “deep,” “weather”
    • Line 5: “dead,” “winter”
    • Line 9: “summer,” “slopes”
    • Line 10: “silken”
    • Line 11: “camel,” “cursing”
    • Line 12: “wanting,” “women”
    • Line 18: “Sleeping,” “snatches”
    • Line 19: “singing,” “saying”
    • Line 20: “That this”
    • Line 21: “dawn,” “down,” “valley”
    • Line 22: “snow,” “smelling,” “vegetation”
    • Line 27: “Six,” “door dicing,” “silver”
    • Line 31: “say) satisfactory.”
    • Line 35: “were we,” “way”
    • Line 37: “doubt,” “death”
    • Line 38: “But,” “different,” “Birth”
    • Line 39: “bitter,” “Death,” “death”
    • Line 42: “gods”
    • Line 43: “glad”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-5: “'A cold coming we had of it, / Just the worst time of the year / For a journey, and such a long journey: / The ways deep and the weather sharp, / The very dead of winter.'”
    • Lines 17-20: “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.”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “The,” “the weather”
    • Line 5: “The very dead”
    • Line 6: “And,” “camels,” “sore,” “refractory”
    • Line 9: “The summer palaces,” “the terraces”
    • Line 10: “the silken,” “bringing sherbet”
    • Line 11: “Then,” “men,” “grumbling”
    • Line 12: “running,” “liquor,” “women”
    • Line 13: “n,” “ight-fires”
    • Line 15: “high prices”
    • Line 16: “time”
    • Line 18: “Sleeping in”
    • Line 19: “With,” “singing in,” “saying”
    • Line 20: “this,” “all folly”
    • Line 22: “below,” “snow,” “smelling,” “vegetation”
    • Line 23: “stream,” “beating”
    • Line 24: “three trees,” “low”
    • Line 25: “And an,” “ old,” “meadow”
    • Line 26: “vine”
    • Line 27: “dicing”
    • Line 28: “wine”
    • Line 29: “no information,” “so”
    • Line 30: “too soon”
    • Line 31: “place,” “you,” “say”
    • Line 41: “ease”
    • Line 42: “people”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “journey, and”
    • Line 6: “galled, sore-footed, refractory”
    • Line 9: “slopes, the”
    • Line 12: “away, and”
    • Line 13: “out, and”
    • Line 19: “ears, saying”
    • Line 22: “Wet, below,” “line, smelling”
    • Line 29: “information, and”
    • Line 30: “evening, not”
    • Line 31: “place; it”
    • Line 32: “ago, I”
    • Line 33: “again, but”
    • Line 35: “This: were”
    • Line 36: “Death? There”
    • Line 37: “doubt. I”
    • Line 38: “different; this”
    • Line 39: “us, like Death, our”
    • Line 40: “places, these”
    • Line 41: “here, in”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “cold coming”
    • Line 2: “Just,” “ worst”
    • Line 4: “ways deep,” “the weather sharp,”
    • Line 5: “dead,” “winter”
    • Line 6: “galled, sore-footed, refractory”
    • Line 7: “Lying down in,” “melting snow”
    • Line 8: “There were,” “ times ,” “we regretted”
    • Lines 9-10: “The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, / And the silken girls bringing sherbet.”
    • Lines 11-12: “Then the camel men cursing and grumbling / and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,”
    • Line 13: “night,” “-fires,” “out,” “shelters”
    • Line 14: “cities hostile,” “towns”
    • Line 15: “villages dirty ,” “high,” “ prices”
    • Line 16: “hard,” “had”
    • Line 17: “travel all”
    • Line 18: “Sleeping in snatches”
    • Line 19: “With the voices singing,” “our ears, saying”
    • Line 20: “That this was all folly”
    • Lines 21-25: “Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, / Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; / With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, / And three trees on the low sky, / And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.”
    • Line 32: “All,” “long”
    • Lines 33-35: “set down / This set down / This”
    • Line 35: “were we led all,” “way”
    • Line 37: “evidence,” “doubt,” “death”
    • Line 38: “different,” “Birth”
    • Line 39: “Hard,” “bitter,” “Death,” “death”
    • Line 42: “alien people,” “gods”
    • Line 43: “glad,” “death”

  • Polysyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where polysyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 11: “and”
    • Line 12: “and,” “and,” “and”
    • Line 13: “And,” “and”
    • Line 14: “And,” “and”
    • Line 15: “And,” “and”
    • Line 23: “and”
    • Line 24: “And”
    • Line 25: “And”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “journey,” “journey”
    • Lines 33-35: “set down / This set down / This”
    • Line 36: “Birth or Death,” “Birth”
    • Line 37: “ birth and death,”
    • Line 38: “Birth”
    • Line 39: “ Death, our death”
    • Line 43: “death”

  • Rhetorical Question

    

    

    

    

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    Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

    • Lines 35-36: “were we led all that way for / Birth or Death?”

  • Parataxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where parataxis appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “The ways deep and the weather sharp, / The very dead of winter.'”
    • Lines 11-16: “Then the camel men cursing and grumbling / and running away, and wanting their liquor and women, / And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, / And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly / And the villages dirty and charging high prices: / A hard time we had of it.”
    • Line 22: “Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;”
    • Lines 24-25: “And three trees on the low sky, / And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.”

• “Journey of the Magi” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Magi
  • Galled
  • Refractory
  • Sherbet
  • Folly
  • Lintel
  • Dicing
  • Wine-skins
  • The Old Dispensation
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Journey of the Magi”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Journey of the Magi” Speaker

• “Journey of the Magi” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Journey of the Magi”

• More “Journey of the Magi” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Eliot's Reading — The poem read by its author. 

    • Lancelot Andrewes's Sermon — The 1622 Christmas sermon of the British bishop Lancelot Andrewes, which Eliot adapted for the poem's opening. 

    • A Documentary on the Poet — A BBC production about Eliot's life and work. 

    • Eliot and Christianity — An article exploring Eliot's relationship with his religion.

    • More Poems and Eliot's Biography — A valuable resource on Eliot's life and work from the Poetry Foundation.  

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by T. S. Eliot

    • Four Quartets: Burnt Norton

    • La Figlia Che Piange

    • Morning at the Window

    • Portrait of a Lady

    • Preludes

    • Rhapsody on a Windy Night

    • The Hollow Men

    • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

    • The Waste Land

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