Journey (allegory)
The journey of the Magi across the desert is an allegory for conversion to Christianity.
Weather (motif)
The cold winter weather is a symbol of the hardship of doubt. The summer weather at the palaces represents sensuous decadence. The Magi experience a supernatural symbolic seasonal shift to spring as they descend into the valley. The temperate weather in the valley represents the mild, restrained nature of faith.
Sherbet (symbol)
The sweet dessert is a symbol for sensuous pleasure, and by extension Paganism.
River (symbol)
The water is a symbol of the grace offered by the birth of Jesus. It brings fertility to the valley, represented by the smell of vegetation. The running stream and water-mill gives movement to a landscape that was frozen in the last stanza. This is also a Biblical allusion, a symbol of Jesus: in John 4:10-14, Jesus called himself the Living Water. The stream powers a mill “beating the darkness,” alluding to Jesus’ claim in John 8:12 to be the Light of the World.
Three trees (symbol)
The “three trees low on the sky” have been interpreted variously by scholars to symbolize the crucifixion of Christ with the two thieves on crosses to either side of him, or the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
White Horse (symbol)
The “white horse” refers to the one in Zechariah 6:5, who announces the coming of Jesus.
Vine leaves (symbol)
A symbol of Christ as the “True Vine” (John 15:1, 5)
Lintel (symbol)
The lintel represents the threshold of conversion.
Dicing (symbol)
The men gambling alludes to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16) and to the dicing of Roman soldiers for Christ's clothing after he was killed.
Wine-skins (symbol)
An allusion to Jesus’ parable of the “new wine” (Matthew 9:17). Christianity will be the new religion to fill new wine-skins. The kicking of the empty old wine-skins in the passage represents the change of the old dispensation to the new.
