Poetry Tuesday: T. S. Eliot (1) — A Modern Pilgrim and The Journey of the Magi
- Jul 7
- 3 min read
"A cold coming we had of it..."
For many months we have been privileged to walk alongside John Milton. Through Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, we have witnessed the grandeur of God's eternal purposes—from humanity's fall to Christ's triumph over Satan in the wilderness.
Today we begin a new journey.
We move from seventeenth-century England to the uncertainties of the twentieth century, from the ordered world of Milton to a civilization shaken by war, doubt, and rapid change.
Yet the questions remain the same: Where is truth? Where is hope? Where is God?
Few poets wrestled with those questions more honestly than T. S. Eliot.
A Poet Searching for Truth
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965) was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and educated at Harvard before continuing his studies in Paris and at Oxford. Eventually he settled in England, where he became one of the most influential literary voices of the twentieth century.
His early poetry captured the anxiety, fragmentation, and spiritual emptiness of modern life. Readers recognized the brilliance of his writing, but beneath the intellectual mastery was a man searching for something lasting.
That search eventually led him to Christ.
In 1927 Eliot was baptized into the Church of England and publicly confessed the Christian faith.
He later described himself as "classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and Anglo-Catholic in religion." His conversion surprised many of his contemporaries, but for Eliot it was the culmination of a long spiritual pilgrimage.
From that point forward, Christian faith became the foundation of many of his greatest poems.
The Journey of the Magi
Later that same year, Eliot wrote one of his best-loved poems, The Journey of the Magi.
Drawing inspiration from Matthew 2, Eliot imagines the visit of the wise men—not as a sentimental Christmas scene, but as the testimony of one of the Magi many years after the journey.
The opening immediately dispels any romantic notions of the first Christmas:
"A cold coming we had of it,/Just the worst time of the year/For a journey..."
The Magi endure hardship, discouragement, and uncertainty. Their pilgrimage is costly.
Yet when they finally arrive, they discover something far greater than they expected.
The birth of Christ is not merely the arrival of a remarkable child.
It is the beginning of a new creation.
Birth and Death
One of the most profound themes of Eliot's poem is that every true encounter with Christ is both a birth and a death.
The Magus reflects that witnessing Christ's birth also meant the end of the old world he had always known.
The coming of Jesus changes everything.
Those who truly meet Him cannot simply return unchanged to their former lives.
That echoes the experience of the Apostle Paul:
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
2 Corinthians 5:17
Conversion is not merely adopting new beliefs.
It is becoming a new person.
Why Christians Still Read Eliot
Some readers find Eliot challenging, but they soon discover that beneath the rich imagery lies a profound longing for God.
He understood the emptiness of a culture that had gained wealth and knowledge while losing its soul.
More importantly, he came to believe that the answer was not found in philosophy, politics, or art alone, but in Jesus Christ.
That conviction gives his Christian poetry an enduring relevance.
Looking Ahead
Over the next few weeks, we will explore several of Eliot's shorter Christian poems, including A Song for Simeon, Animula, Marina, and Ash-Wednesday.
Together they trace the journey of a man who discovered that the deepest questions of the human heart are answered only in Christ.
After Milton's majestic vision of redemption, Eliot reminds us that the same Savior still meets pilgrims in every age—even in the confusion and uncertainty of the modern world.
Next Tuesday, we will take a closer look at The Journey of the Magi itself, listening carefully to the testimony of one who discovered that the Child in Bethlehem had changed history forever.
*********************************
**********************************
All who would valiant be
'Gainst all disaster,
Let them in constancy
Follow the master.
There's no discouragement
Shall make them once relent
Their first avowed intent
To be true pilgrims.
2. Who so beset them round
With dismal stories,
Do but themselves confound;
Their strength the more is.
No foes shall stay their might;
Though they with giants fight,
They will make good their right
To be true pilgrims.
-
3. Since, Lord, you will defend
Us with your Spirit,
We know we at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away!
We'll fear not what they say,
We'll labor night and day
To be true pilgrims.
John Bunyan, 1684
Comments