Faith can be a difficult thing to maintain during hardship, and both the magi and the author were rewarded for their faith when they "came to a temperate valley" (line 21). The valley in the poem represents the warmth of feeling that one's faith has been justified. To transition from a seemingly endless journey through bleak and barren terrain, to a bountiful land "smelling of vegetation/With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness," naturally creates a feeling of accomplishment and joy in both personas. Unfortunately, the reward that was being sought is not as miraculous as was originally expected: "it was (you may say) satisfactory" (line 31).

Essentially, Eliot is disappointed in the fruits of his labors, or in other words, the feelings of meaning, understanding and...

It was a long and arduous expedition that he had embarked upon "a long time ago" (line 32); and like in any situation in which one has strived tirelessly for something and then finally attained it, there is going to be sense of letdown. After all, when one places such high expectations on any type of elixir, whether it be the birth of a Savior, the adoption of a new religion, or any promise that alleges to grant us internal peace, the reality is almost destined to be less astounding than the idea. It is for this reason that both the personas of the magi and the author were "no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation" once they witnessed birth and death, and came to realize that neither one is the supreme phenomenon it has been told to be.