A Comparative Study of Poetic Devices in T. S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” and W. B. Yeats’s “The Magi”

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the poetic devices employed in the poems of T. S. Eliot and W. B. Yeats and to illuminate their respective roles in them. Although both poets borrow the same mythical figures—the Magi—they utilize distinct poetic devices to achieve different aesthetic purposes. Eliot adopts a free verse form which avoids conventional rhyme schemes or fixed meters; however, he employs a sophisticated “inner musicality” as a primary poetic device. Through the strategic employment of alliteration, repetition, and symbolism, he effectively portrays the tedious and arduous journey of the Magi. In contrast, Yeats utilizes regular rhymes and vowel harmony to evoke the cyclical image of the Magi eternally repeating their wandering across the sky. These poetic devices align with Yeats’s Gyre theory and his philosophy of historical recurrence, reinforcing the thematic depth of his work.