SUBJECT: LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH

CLASS: SS1

TERM: 2ND TERM

REFERENCES

The Lion and the Jewel by Wole Soyinka.
Exam Reflection Literature- in-English by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.
Exam Reflection Literature-in-English (Prose and Drama) by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.

WEEK THREE

Topic: Reading and Content Analysis of Non-African Poetry: "The Journey of the Magi" by T.S. Eliot

“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.”

And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,

Lying down in the melting snow.

There were times we regretted

The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,

And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

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.

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.

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.

Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,

Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,

And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.

But there was no information, and so we continued

And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon

Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,

And I would do it again, but set down

This set down

This: were we led all that way for

Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,

We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,

But had thought they were different; this Birth was

Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.

We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,

But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,

With an alien people clutching their gods.

I should be glad of another death.

Journey of the Magi by T. S. Eliot: Summary and Critical Analysis

The poem Journey of the Magi is based on the theme of the Bible. It is full of religious feelings. The visit of the Three Wise Men from the East to Palestine at the time of Christ's birth has been described in a very realistic way. The wise men start their journey in the extreme cold of the winter to reach the place of Christ's birth to offer presents to him.

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‘Journey of the Magi’ was penned down by Nobel prize winner, TS Eliot, and is a contrast of experiences based on the nativity of Christ. The monologue describes the journey of the Magi to Bethlahem in search of spiritual pacification and is an account of Eliot’s own conversion to Anglican faith, making the journey and objective correlation for Eliot.

As per the Gospel story, the Magi were the three wise men namely Balthazar- King of Chaldea, Gaspor - King of Ethopia, Melchoir -King of Nubia who belonged to the priestly class of magicians and had come to Bethlahem to pay homage to infant Christ presenting him with gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. They symbolise wandering human souls in search of spirituality, the eternal spiritual quester.
The poem, ‘Journey of the Magi’, opens with the nativity sermon of Lancelot Andrews preached in 1622 which describes the hardships Magi faced due to deep ways, sharp weather, meeting snow and hostile conditions which were hard to combat : ‘ A cold coming we had of it/ Just the worst time of the year’ in ‘the very dead of winter’. The Magus admits that there was introspection promoted for ‘there were times we regretted’ as they had given up materialistic pleasures and sensuality of ‘Summer places on the slope’ and ‘silken girls bringing sherbet.’

Besides wondering whether it was worth the effort, their major issue of search was ignored and the day to day difficulties bogged them down with ‘camelmen cursing and grumbling’, ‘night fires going out’ and ‘villages, dirty and charging high prices’. And they admitted, ‘A hard time we had of it’.

The Magi now ‘preferred to travel all night’ and faced agonising moments of self doubt : ‘voices singing in our ears saying that this was all folly’ before they finally reached a temperate valley.

The second half of the poem abounds in symbolism with the temperate valley signifying the change in their lives that followed the arduous journey. They come across a ‘ running stream’ depicting the timelessness of their journey; ‘watermill beating the darkness,’ continuing the image of extinction and renewal; ‘three trees signifying three crosses at Calvary; ‘an old white horse’, a metaphor for rebirth of Christ, the Savior and the defeat of paganism; ‘Vine leaves over the lintel’ again symbolic of the vine that Christ metamorphosed into his blood; ‘Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver’ refers to betrayal of Christ by Judas and lastly ‘feet kicking empty vine skins ’is symbolic of the worn out forms and rituals of the old dispensation.
The Magus describes their destination as: ‘Finding the place, it was ( you may say) satisfactory’. Such a deliberate understatement reflects the turmoil in the minds of the Magi as an outcome of the clash of their old dispensation and new beliefs.

The last twelve lines describe the psychological change in the Magi as they are caught in confusion and perplexity and claimed that ‘This birth was hard and bitter agony for us like Death’. The journey marked the end of their old dispensation but does not give them satisfaction of faith for the Magus claims, ‘I should be glad of another death’ so that he may be born into a new faith.

The poem can be studied at three levels: The actual journey of the Magi; Eliot’s journey from doubt to faith while his conversion to Anglicanism, and journey of any individual in spiritual quest.

Belonging to the Ariel poems, the journey traces Eliot’s own spiritual quest and his yearning for sublime peace.
The monologue reconfirms the universal truth that the brave and the dauntless who embark upon journeys with conviction are graced with divinity but it is sensual desire and temptation that need to be overcome.

EVALUATIONS QUESTIONS

Critically analyze content of the poem above.
How does the poem relate to the Bible?

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

SECTION A

INSTRUCTION: Answer all questions

“Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind”, illustrates
inversion B. paradox C. humour D. mood E. metaphor
When characters talk to each other, it is referred to as ………..
soliloquy B. monologue C. dialogue D. recitation E. talking
The attitude of a writer towards the subject matter is the ………
tone B. plot C. crisis D. climax E. theme
The story of a person’s life written by another is …… A. history B. autobiography
biography D. anthology E. compilation
A writer’s diction portrays his ………A. repetition B. irony C. tensionD. humour E. style

SECTION B

Discuss the dominant theme in the poem.

READING ASSINGMENT

Read up the poetic devices in the above poem in Exam Focus.

Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 1