what is the interrelationship between time, memory and nature in "journey of the magi"-by T.S.Elliot?

Answer 1

Welcome to Yahoo! Answers, Okupe A. I notice that this is your first question; I hope that you find our responses helpful.

In T. S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi,” memory speaks to us on at least two levels: the historical memory in which “old dispensations” are banished with the birth of Christ and the ultimate triumph of Christianity, and Eliot’s personal memory of his own conversion to orthodox Christianity as the only plausible "world view" in such a dark period of the world’s intellectual history. At each of these levels, the poem focuses on (1) a lost “golden” age, of “summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, / And the silken girls bringing sherbet”; (2) a long, arduous struggle with obstacles and resistance as, for example, “ the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly / And the villages dirty and charging high prices” as well as the more perplexing voices, “saying / That this was all folly”; (3) finally, arrived at a moment of insight, “not a moment too soon / Finding the place”; (4) only to be left even then with a certain feeling of ambivalence and the recognition of self-sacrifice: “this Birth was / Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.”

Both the historical and the personal memory represented in the poem take place in time, but also are timeless. The literal journey sets out in the “very dead of winter,” that is in a bitter, dark, and cold season. But metaphorically the journey recurs again and again, is in fact outside of time: “I would do it again.” In the timeless dimension, the birth was a death, “hard and bitter for us,” but even so “I should be glad of another death.”

Eliot is not a “nature poet,” in the traditional sense of the term. In his poetry when nature intrudes, as it sometimes does, (1) it represents a natural world in which pleasure is often momentary and trials inevitable, and (2) it even tempers the pleasant with hints of strife, impermanence, and the odious and (3) it ultimately suggests allegorical, even apocalyptic significance.

“The ways [were] deep,” the magus recounts, “and the weather sharp.” Summer gives way to winter; the night-fires burn out. Even the “temperate valley” smells of vegetation (hardly the pleasant aroma of lilies and roses); change is inevitable as a “running stream,” and man-against-nature is a constant factor: “a water-mill beating the darkness.”

Amid all this alluvial nature, one cannot but detect symbols that remind one of archetypes of human memory, of time and timelessness. For example, “three tress on the low sky” call to mind the three crosses and, hence, the suffering and death of the child whose birth they come to celebrate. The “old white horse” galloping away at least suggests, with intentional ambiguity, two horses of the apocalypse: the white horse of the Conqueror and the pale horse of Death.

Hence, a poem on a subject usually associated with spiritual, eternal, divine glory (the Advent, the Epiphany), Eliot explores it within the context of human memory, hence within the world of nature and time, of "an alien people clutching their gods." Even so, even so: "it was (you may say) satisfactory." Not glorious, maybe not even altogether satisfying, but . . . satisfactory.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what you mean by nature, either nature outside or the nature of a human, but I can give you my take [by no means a complete/right answer.]

In this piece I see Eliot's same use or the wise-old man that he's used before. This piece refers to Eliot's acceptance into the Christian Church. I think that time and memory go hand in hand here because without the benefit of time, the poem would be drastically different. Reading the poem there is an interesting use of the memory/time. The narrator tells us that this is his memory, but within the memory he is looking at other memories. ['There were times we regretted...' line 8.]

I think to move to the end there is this idea of contemplating the meaning of what they saw. If the narrator tells us this journey too soon, we will not grasp the entire concept. The last stanza, for me, is the most important. Again, the memory of the memory is evident and the time is brought to the present. It is the first time, the only time, in the poem where we become in the now. ['I should be glad of another death.'] The memory is still going on, inside the narrator's mind, but it is also over for us as readers. But, the narrator is tired of this memory, of living, it hurts him, so like the memory killed him at some point [how I read it, completely up to interpretation...] he is waiting for the real death now.

I hope that helped a little, and would be happy to work in nature if you say what nature you are referring to. It's a great poem and Eliot is a genius. Enjoy!

Answer 3

Here's a good website to start:

http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/eliot.htm

Good luck.