"The Journey of the Magi" is an English poem written by T.S. Eliot. In this poem, Eliot describes the journey of the Magi as they seek out the Christ child in the manger. Though their heads say that it is a stupid quest, that all of the hardship it takes to get there is not worth it, something in their hearts urge them to continue on. Through many a town they pass, and can derive no information for the locals regarding the place where they were headed. Finally, not a moment too soon, they reach the manger, and witness the birth of Jesus. Though satisfied that it is indeed a holy child, there is something not right, as if it were not only a birth they saw, but a death. This was the death of their former attachment to physical belongings. Even after they return to their high castles, the Magi are no longer content with mere possessions, and would rather be without them if it would mean spiritual freedom. In this way the poem reminds me strongly of Siddhartha’s journey. He also sought out the answer to all of his questions, the Buddha, and from that meeting on could not be content to live the life he had before. He was not content to stay with those who clung blindly to their gods, and decided to start on a path to enlightenment that was eventually fulfilled.
T.S. Eliot. “The Journey of the Magi.” PoetSeers.com 10/9/08 http://www.poetseers.org/themes/nobel_prize_for_literature/t__s__eliot/library/the_journey_of_the_magi/
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2 comments:
I really like how you connect our current reading to this story and I can really understand it better that way. Their journeys that had them give up everything they owned are a lot like Siddhartha and his decision to live an ascetic life, although the Magi seem to not be dependent on physical possessions compared to Siddhartha who gave up possessions to find the reason of suffering.
I also enjoyed your connection to our reading, but I thought this also relates to us as students. When writing huge essays, we have to do pre-writing and multiple drafts, which sometimes we think it is stupid, but we push through anyway. In the end we turn in a good essay, but also we never are able to write the way we did before ever again.
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