The word is god breathed

Mr. Gershman Jen CrillyMiss Arsenault11/12/08ILA 9 Honors“Journey of the Magi” Critical AnalysisWith the great praise that is given to famous poems, there comes plenty of criticism to follow. With examples presented in Michael Lake’scriticism of “Journey of the Magi,” this essay reviews how and why criticism informs people’s understanding of the specific time period, poet, and poem. T.S. Eliot wrote the famous literary work in 1927, during the Modernist Free Verse movement (“Journey of the Magi”). The movement began in the 1920s and continues on to this day as a part of the Post-Modernist movement. Poems created during the time period are best known for their originality that sets them apart from those of the past. Though T.S. Eliot’spoem, on the surface, portrays the journey of the Magi to find the baby Jesus, the potential Messiah who will bring about redemption to the world, it serves as a metaphor for T.S. Eliot’s search for meaning in the modern world. T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” renders human kind’s quest to discover the purpose of their existence in an ever-changing landscape.Michael Lake’s “Journey of the Magi” criticism discusses how the poem shows that death leads to a new birth. The majority of T.S. Eliot’s poetry was influenced by his religious beliefs. Eliot wrote “Journey of the Magi” while he was converting to the Church of England (Shuman), otherwise known as the High Church of Anglicanism (Lake). Michael Lake states that Eliot expresses how death has a positiveaffect, but people are unwilling to give up their life to find out what that exactly is. The positive side of death is that you ascend into Heaven afterwards. However, people don’t realize that Heaven is not only the reason for death, but it is the reasonfor our existence. The
Christian faith states that God put us on Earth to spread his word, and then we die and spend all of eternity by his side. Lake’s criticism allows for those who are less informed about how T.S. Eliot’s life affects his poetry, to understand certain aspects of the poem that they wouldn’t otherwise ("Journey of the Magi.").In addition to Lake’s analysis giving insight to T.S. Eliot’s idea that death leads to a new birth, it also explains how he expresses the “old dogs can’t learn new tricks” theory in “Journey of the Magi. Eliot adapts the old theory to human nature. T.S. Eliot believes that humans naturally can’t evolve or change their habits. Throughout their existence, people fall into an instinctive pattern of life from which it isnearly impossible to make any drastic adaptations. The old Magus in the poem is used to represent all of these similar ideas. Other critics think that the old Magus is actually used to symbolize T.S. Eliot himself. Either way, critical analyzes such as Michael Lake’s explain the true meaning of the old Magus in depth. Without such critics, the purpose of for the old Magus would be overlooked ("Journey of the Magi."). Lastly, the criticism makes Eliot’s beliefs about “true self-gratification” known. Michael states that Eliot thinks that true self-gratification only comes from the sacrifice of lust for love. The sacrifice of lust for love basically means that in order to gratify yourself, you must do what is best for someone else instead of what is best foryourself. Also, people should do it out of love instead of greed (Lake). In order for someone to help their self, they must help others. Everything is connected and relates to the saying, “what goes around, comes around.” T.S. Eliot feels that people must be generous, sympathetic, and self-controlling in order to benefit themselves (Lake). Without critics