How far you have had traveled? How long you have been traveling? A
traveler is like a lost soul, finding a way towards the destination without any
clear idea of the possible danger and challenges he will face. In the journey
of Magi, a reader would know the worst side of traveling, the sacrifices it
has to make in order for the traveler to arrive at his destination. The poem
has three stanzas with 43 lines overall; the first stanza contains twenty
lines, the second: eleven, and the third: twelve.
In the first three lines, the speaker explains that winter was coming and
it was the worst time of the year for the travelers and that they will have a
long journey. Because of the word “we”, it is assumed that the speaker is not
alone in his journey. Then, the speaker
stated “the very dead of winter” which describes how bad the winter, which
affected the camels that they used as transportation for undertaking their long
and grueling journey. The camels didn’t want to move and just wanted to lie
down. The speaker also stated that sometimes they regret the journey.
The winter stops and summer came, they arrive in the city and have seen
women bringing dessert, and camel men cursing, grumbling, and taking their women
with them while drinking. The travelers don’t have a place/home to stay for a
night, because the rooms are so expensive even if it is dirty, and the people
don’t let them enter and rest to their homes even just for a night. So, the
travelers decided to continue moving and took a nap whenever they can’t hold
it, though they think that it was not a good idea.
In the second
stanza, the speaker stated that they arrive in the valley at dawn, and from
there they found the small town, but they still got no answer. So, the continued
until they found the place, their destination and have seen that the place was
not the best yet good enough.
In the last stanza, the speaker reveals that such a journey happened a long
time ago, which he wanted to do it again. He then asked if the journey was for
birth or death. However, he stated that there was a birth and that’s for sure,
yet asked what was the death, because, through their journey, the speaker has seen both birth and death. The birth that the
speaker mentioned was the birth of Jesus, yet on their journey, the speaker was
able to witness how a lot of people have chosen a wrong way to God for being
unkind, which symbolizes death, and also a reflection of their journey.
The journey of magi is the reflection of the three wise kings who
traveled to find Jesus after it was born.
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