I really appreciated watching the videos on Eliot's personal life. The intro on Eliot in the Norton Edition said he "had marital problems" with Vivienne Haigh-Wood, but I had no idea what that really involved until last class. I thought it was interesting how no one would "talk about" Vivienne's mental condition, all of her "issues" seemed to be pushed under the rug, and this approach didn't seem to do anyone justice. From checking out Wikipedia, I read that the marriage for Vivienne brought "no happiness", and for Eliot the marriage brought "the state of mind out of which came The Waste Land".
Upon watching the video, I decided to go back and re-read Journey of the Magi to try and analyze it from a different perspective, now having deeper insight and better conceptualizations of Eliot's personal life. The poem was published in the same year he converted to Anglicanism. I think the journey Eliot underwent to come to his conversion was difficult and tedious, as we learned last class Vivienne was not in support of his new faith. Like Eliot's life, the poem is "real", distressful, agitated and direct:
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
Furthermore, the opening lines also remind me of how The Waste Land started, kind of desolate and cruel. Jumping to the conclusion, the ending seems kind of "torn", the Birth is not necessarily celebrated, but looked at as a death of the "old", the death of "gods" (paganism), still resulting in alienation. . . hopefully I am reading this right? I am looking forward to discussing this in class, and gaining more insight!
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