Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 1

SUBJECT: LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH                                    

CLASS: SS1

TERM: 2ND TERM

REFERENCES

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

WEEK FOUR

THEMES AND POETIC DEVICES IN THE POEM

SUFFERING

 The "Journey of the Magi” begins and ends with suffering, and the Magi suffer a whole lot during the journey, the bad weather and even worse people. The psychological suffering of the dying culture of the Magi, in addition to the physical and mental anguish we know about Jesus would experience as he grew up to become Christ. So what do we make of all this? We think Eliot's reminding us that a whole lot about spirituality and religion 

TRADITION AND CUSTOMS

The "Journey of the Magi" is chock full of traditions being challenged left and right. There's this strange sense of impending doom about the birth of Jesus, and the dawning knowledge that the old way of life for these Magi is long gone. You would think that a poem about the birth of Jesus would be all kinds of happiness, about ushering in a new era of religious exaltation, but mostly, this poem is talking about the past. 

DEATH

To the Magi, the loss of their traditions to impending Christianity is like staring both death and defeat in the face at once. Death doesn't make its real entrance until the end of "Journey of the Magi." The death of Jesus on the cross brings transformation and redemption.  

RELIGION

The birth of Jesus, the three kings, the death of Jesus "Journey of the Magi" are religious themes.  Since the whole poem is about the coming of Christianity, every word is packed with religious meaning  in the poem.

POETIC DEVICES

Eliot uses anaphora, or starting the lines with the same word. This provides a rhythmic effect, as well as the sense of reciting a litany. One finds this in the repeated use of the word "And" to begin lines, for example: 

And the camel . . .

And running away . . .

And the night fires . . .

Anaphora is used too in the final stanza, though in a more muted way, in the repetition of the words "but" and "this."

However—and this is where it gets interesting—Eliot, the master of allusion, uses the anaphora technique allusively. Allusion is the literary device in which a poet refers to another work of literature in his own text. In this Biblically-themed poem, about the birth of Christ, the anaphora echoes the Bible, especially the Psalms, which are noted for their use of anaphora. Eliot also uses allusions to the Bible when he mentions, among other things, wineskins and three trees (referring to Jesus being one of the three men hung together on crosses).

Eliot uses alliteration to build a rhythmic effect. Alliteration means beginning words with the same consonant within a line. Eliot does this in such lines as 

The summer palaces on slopes . . .

The camel men cursing . . .

Vivid imagery helps bring the poem alive as well. Imagery is using the five senses to put the reader in a scene: Eliot writes in ways that allow us to see glimpses of what the narrator telling the story sees, such as "silken girls bringing sherbet" and "villages dirty."

The imagery in the first section depicts the harshness of the journey, the cold, the animals' stubbornness, and their guides desertion.  The journey, in the second stanza, becomes more pleasant, seeing a "temperate valley," and a tranquil stream, both symbols of peace and harmony.

While here, the readers are given the picture of men gambling at a tavern, which alludes to the gamblers Christ drove out of the temple in the Bible and infers the need of a savior.  The darkness has turned to light; they are in Bethlehem and find the infant.

However, years later, the magi reflect on this miraculous event.  Christ has already been crucified.  He was essentially born to die, making the magi wonder " were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death?"  This question is universal?  All men are born; all men die.

"The Journey of the Magi” is a narrative poem that uses outsider point of view to illuminate the well-known story of the nativity. The Biblical narrative does not consider the feelings of the Magi towards the journey; Eliot's poem foregrounds these and uses dramatic irony in that while the narrator does not understand the import of the allusions he makes—the "white horse," the "pieces of silver," the "vine skins"—we, the reader, understand these to be images related to Christ's crucifixion.

The semantic field of suffering that begins in the first stanza, then—"a long journey," "a hard time we had of it," "the very dead of winter," "sore-footed"—is extended and amplified towards the end of the poem, where Death comes to the fore. The narrator explains that "this birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death," and the dramatic irony again is that the reader understands that Christ's purpose is not only incomplete without both his birth and death, but also that he symbolizes the death of "the old dispensation" of "alien people clutching their gods." The Magi, then, have journeyed to see a birth that will lead to the death of their own civilization, leaving the narrator "no longer at ease" and longing for "another death."

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Comment on the theme of religion and suffering.
2. Examine the poetic techniques employed in the poem.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

SECTION A

INSTRUCTION: Answer all questions.

1. “Here comes the princess, now heaven walls on earth”, illustrates the use of A. contrast. B. metaphor. C. metonymy. D. meiosis.
2. An ode is usually a poem written for A. condemnation. B. celebration. C. instruction. D. entertainment.
3. The main character in a literary work is the A. antagonist. B. protagonist. C. narrator. D actor. 
4. A sonnet may be divided into an octave and A.  tercet. B. quatrain. C. sestet. D. septet.
5. “All hands on deck” is an example of A. metaphor. B. personification. C. synecdoche. D. pun.

SECTION B

INSTRUCTION: Answer one question.

Give a brief biography of Wole Soyinka.

READING ASSINGMENT

Read up The Lion and Jewel and give a plot account of the book.