Journey of the Magi

Eliot wrote “The Journey of the Magi” in three uneven stanzas containing 43 lines. The poem in composed in free verse, which is not written in traditional meter and does not usually rhyme. Although Eliot often employs rhyme in his poetry, he does not do so in this poem. Instead, he establishes a rhythm that follows the way people speak. Rhythm in this sense is sometimes referred to as cadence—the way words flow in spoken language. The cadence is established right at the beginning by Eliot’s adaptation of Lancelot Andrewes’s sermon, with its short, pithy phrases. In the second stanza, the line lengthens and the phrases are longer. This suggests a relaxation in mood, which conforms to the sense of the verse, as the Magi enter a “temperate valley” (Line 21) with its “running stream” (Line 22). It is as if they are breathing a sigh of relief as the tense and difficult journey they have endured nears its end.