The Joumey of the Magi： A Lyric Monologue for First and Second Voices and Three-in-One Character（s）

作     者：Robert Keir Shepherd 

作者机构：Universidad Autonoma de Madrid Madrid Spain 

出 版 物：《Journal of Literature and Art Studies》 (文学与艺术研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2017年第7卷第12期

页      面：1511-1529页

学科分类：1305[艺术学-设计学（可授艺术学、工学学位）] 13[艺术学] 081203[工学-计算机应用技术] 08[工学] 0835[工学-软件工程] 0812[工学-计算机科学与技术（可授工学、理学学位）] 

主　　题：dramatic monologue dramatic poetry lyric monologue peritext subjective self 

摘      要：Although T. S. Eliot＇s ＂The Journey of the Magi＂ is a religious poem in the profoundest sense, the title of my paper is intended to give only a sly wink at Trinitarianism. My real object is to explain how Eliot contrived to manufacture a poem which, at fu＇st glance, resembles a dramatic monologue （generally understood as a poem for one voice----that of a historical/fictional/mythological character addressing a silent listener, group of listeners or reader）, yet which is slowly revealed as a lyrical monologue （for the poet＇s own voice） which yet--and this quite intentionally----contains considerably more than mere echoes of another two speakers： namely a Magus and the biblical translator and, most famously, sermon writer Archbishop Launcelot Andrewes （1555-1626） court preacher to James 1 and Charles 1 of England. I wish to show how Eliot, in writing what is ultimately confessional verse, goes out of his way to hoodwink the reader by allowing the first two of his ＂{The} Three Voices of Poetry＂ （1957） to overlap with and then incorporate the third. His own descriptions of these voices are （i） lyric, defined as ＂the poet talking to himself＂, （ii） that of the single speakerwho gives a （dramatic） monologuel ＂addressing an {imaginary} audience in an assumed voice＂ and （iii） that of the verse dramatist ＂who attempts to create a dramatic character speaking in verse when he {i.e. the author} is saying.., only what he can say within the limits of one imaginary character addressing another imaginary character＂ yet adding ＂some bit of himself that the author gives to a character may be the germ from which that character starts＂ （Eliot, 1957, pp. 38, 40）. The basis of my argument is that such an act of＂giving of the self＇ as the raw material for the creation of a dramatic monologue persona as well as a character designed for the stage had been part and parcel of Eliot＇s modus operandi up to and including ＂Prufrock＂ and The Waste Land; further, that in ＂The Journey of the Magi＂ an