1. TS Eliot

2. The first five lines talk about how cold it was, thereby emphasizing the difficulty of the journey. The poet shows that there were multiple difficulties and they just kept coming. This is meant to make us feel pity for the men, because of mounting difficulties they had to face.

3. A life of luxury where they were privileged to all their hearts’ desires. The camels were being difficult; their guides were crude and neglected their duties; the fires kept going out in the cold; there were not enough shelters; the people they encountered were unfriendly, hostile, dirty and not honest; prices were high(any three)

4. If they were not use to these luxuries they would not have missed them as much ‘And three trees on the low sky’ (Line 24)

5. ‘And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow’ (Line 25) ‘the empty wine-skins’ (Line 28) ‘dicing for pieces of silver’ (Line 27) ‘Six hands at an open door dicing’ (Line 27)

6. To avoid the hostile and unfriendly people; at night the men ran off and could not do so if they were traveling; they did not have to worry about fires for heat And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory. (Line 30 – 31) And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory. (Line 30 – 31)

7. They travelled all this way to see a great king and probably expected more / They did not expect to have such a life changing experience which would affect everything they had ever believed and known. He emphasizes the importance of what he is about to ask.

8. They suddenly realised that everything that they had believed was of no significance. Their entire way of life would change.

9. The births were the birth of Jesus and their ‘birth’ into Christianity. The deaths refer to actual death and the death of their religion The word ‘alien’ refers to something that is foreign. As he is referring to the people of his own country – his people – he is saying that his own ways of living has become foreign to him.