The poem "Journey of the Magi" by T. S. Eliot is told in the form of a dramatic monologue by one of the wise men on a quest to find the Christ child. In its three stanzas, it relates the long journey, the arrival, and the narrator's reflections upon finding that for which he and his companions had sought.

One important theme in this poem is personal spiritual rebirth. When he wrote "Journey of the Magi," Eliot had recently converted to Anglo-Catholicism, and the poem reflects his new-found faith.

Another theme is that of alienation from a meaningless past. After a conversion experience, old standards and morals no longer apply. This is brought out near the end, when the narrator speaks of being "no longer at ease" with "alien people clutching their gods."

In the first stanza, in describing the long journey through the bitter cold of frozen wastelands, Elliot brings out the theme of the frustration, loneliness, doubt, and despair that accompanies a spiritual journey in life before someone has found fulfillment.

In the second stanza, Eliot emphasizes the theme of arrival and anticipation. The travelers have come below the snow line, and they can smell vegetation. They are near the end of their quest.

The final stanza highlights the theme of the relationship between death and new birth. The birth of the Christ child necessitates the death of the "old dispensation," which has become irrelevant.