T.S. Eliot: Persuasive Essay - Journey of the Magi and Rhapsody on a Windy Night
Without an understanding of the time period when a poem is developed, we fail to fully appreciate and understand the purpose and messages within such compositions. While the contextual detail of some poems may be fairly simple, the way poets put words together often makes these themes, messages and forms abstract and confusing. A reader must attempt to delve deeper and study the context of society, culture, and that of the writer at the time of composition, or they will interpret and push away composed material as meaningless ‘mumbo-jumbo’ – which is what works by poets like T.S. Eliot strived to avoid.
T.S. Eliot was the most dominant literary figure between the two World Wars, his unique concepts, precise vocabulary, and the power of his Modernism (which is still as relevant today as it was in the 20th century) changed the face of poetry. The Nobel Prize winning poet’s original and inventive style is credited with viewing the world as it appears, without making any optimistic judgements. Eliot’s poems ‘Journey of the Magi’ (1927) and ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’ (1920) both explore the fragility of the human mind (an idea streaming directly from the era of Modernist poetry, where writers perceived the world as fragmented and alienated), showcasing his original and abstract style of writing and, when read into further, reflect Eliot’s own values and the commons of society and culture and the time of composition.
‘Journey of the Magi’ is a dramatic monologue narrated by one of the Three Wise Men (Kings), reflecting and reminiscing upon the well-known story, from the Gospel of Matthew, of the physical and spiritual quest they made to see and worship the birth of Jesus Christ. Eliot reveals how the experiences of a journey will affect one’s perspective and unstable emotions, and he also reflects his own spiritual journey of conversion to the Christian faith. All of this explores the themes of spirituality and death and rebirth through the use of metaphoric
T.S. Eliot was the most dominant literary figure between the two World Wars, his unique concepts, precise vocabulary, and the power of his Modernism (which is still as relevant today as it was in the 20th century) changed the face of poetry. The Nobel Prize winning poet’s original and inventive style is credited with viewing the world as it appears, without making any optimistic judgements. Eliot’s poems ‘Journey of the Magi’ (1927) and ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’ (1920) both explore the fragility of the human mind (an idea streaming directly from the era of Modernist poetry, where writers perceived the world as fragmented and alienated), showcasing his original and abstract style of writing and, when read into further, reflect Eliot’s own values and the commons of society and culture and the time of composition.
‘Journey of the Magi’ is a dramatic monologue narrated by one of the Three Wise Men (Kings), reflecting and reminiscing upon the well-known story, from the Gospel of Matthew, of the physical and spiritual quest they made to see and worship the birth of Jesus Christ. Eliot reveals how the experiences of a journey will affect one’s perspective and unstable emotions, and he also reflects his own spiritual journey of conversion to the Christian faith. All of this explores the themes of spirituality and death and rebirth through the use of metaphoric