What literary devices are in T. S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi"?

One literary device that you might want to talk about in T. S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” is allegory. Allegory is when a poem might have a second, alternate meaning. It’s almost as if the poem has two layers. There’s the first visible layer. Then, if you look close enough, you might spot another layer that’s not so overt.

As the title suggests, the poem, at first glance, appears to be about the arduous journey of the wise men (i.e., the Magi). These were the people who traveled to see the newborn Jesus.

Yet you could also read this poem as an allegory for modern life. Throughout the poem, Eliot espouses imagery that could be applied to contemporary society. As you might know, Eliot has a few famous poems about the alienation and apathy that he sees in the twentieth century. Those poems include “The Waste Land” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

In “Magi,” you see hints of the corruption and tumult of modern life when Eliot describes the cities as “hostile,” the towns as “unfriendly,” and the villages as “dirty and charging high prices.”

The end also might help you make a case that the poem is an allegory for more contemporary times. The “alien people clutching their gods” seems to reflect modernity’s growing secularism and disenchantment with traditional religion.

If you want to discuss a more straightforward literary device, you could bring up juxtaposition. This is when two opposite ideas or themes are placed almost side by side to spotlight their contrasts or, perhaps, to show that they’re not so different after all.

Eliot appears to deploy juxtaposition when he talks about “Birth” and “Death.” You might have noticed that Eliot describes both birth and death as “hard and bitter agony.” You could argue that Eliot uses juxtaposition to try and point out that birth and death have more in common than might be presumed.

Eliot uses anaphora, or starting lines with the same word. This provides a rhythmic effect, as well as the sense of reciting a litany. We find 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 points 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 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."

Eliot utilizes several literary devices to convey his twist on the story of Christ's birth, and, as expected, most of them are religious symbols and allusions.

The first is expressed literally in the poem - the religious journey of the magi, or priest who is recounting his journey years beyond the time it occurred.  This flashback technique allows for retrospection and insight gained in the time since the event. Of course the journey motif is one of a reflection on one's life.  The magi is doing just that.

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

While here, we 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 is reflecting 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. 

What is the background of T. S. Eliot's poem "Journey of the Magi"?

"The Journey of the Magi" is a document of Eliot's burgeoning Christian faith, which finds its first full expression in Ash Wednesday. Although Eliot believes in the Incarnation, he remains physically present in a sinful world, the fallen world, the world of the here and now in which we all live. The birth of Christ is a revelation, not just for humankind, but for the poet. As well as representing the birth of a new life, it also represents the death of the old, sinful life. Or at least it ought to, for the poet, still remaining as he does in a world of sin, has a long way to go. He must embark upon a long, arduous journey to achieve the kind of spiritual wisdom analogous to the earthly wisdom of a magus. (The singular of "magi."

Eliot's spiritual journey parallels that of the three wise men, which takes on added metaphorical significance. After a tiring, treacherous journey through the wilds of the desert, the magi have finally encountered a divine mystery, whose true meaning can never be fully established. In one respect, their journey has ended, but at the same time, it's only just begun. And Eliot himself has traversed vast distances in his own spiritual journey, yet knows that he too must carry on, slowly but surely divesting himself of the trappings of his sinful existence to attain true wisdom. The birth of the Christ-child must, in due course, lead to the death of his merely temporal existence if he is to obtain eternal life. In the meantime, however, the poet, like the magi, must return to his fallen kingdom, where he is

no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods.

The poet has reached the end of one journey, the end of one world, but does not yet possess sufficient wisdom to gaze into the world beyond of which the Nativity provides such a telling glimpse.

What is the source of T. S. Eliot's poem Journey of the Magi?

The source of the poem "Journey of the Magi" by T. S. Eliot is the Gospel of Mark from the New Testament. The poem was written by Eliot after his conversion to the Church of England. It describes the journey of the magi bearing gifts to the infant Jesus, guided by a star that pointed the way to the manger in which he was born. The poem is written from the point of view of the magi, and begins with a realistic evocation of the journey: 

"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:

The term "magi" refers to wise men. It is a Greek derivative of a Persian term "magus" referring to a type of Zoroastrian priest who was an expert in astrology and studied the movements and configurations of the stars to investigate the divine realm.