Poem Analysis
In “Convergence of the Twain,” Thomas Hardy describes the greatness of the Titanic and the vanity that embodied its doom, radiating an admiring, yet regretful tone towards the events of April 14, 1912.
During the first stanza, Hardy talks about the Titanic’s “solitude in the sea.” “Deep from human vanity,” implying that the reason the Titanic is so deep, sunk under water is due to the vanity that created her, and ultimately sank her. The headline of the Titanic was “unsinkable,” typifying the vanity she was associated with, and the captain that led the Titanic was rumored to have ordered the propellers travel at a faster speed despite numerous warnings of the danger of a crash.
In the second stanza, the once lively “salamandrine fires” of the Titanic are contrasted with the now cold, “steel chambers” of the sunken ship. Moreover, this can be viewed as a comparison between death (cold) and life (warm fire). In the last line of the stanza, Hardy describes the steel chambers as making “rhythmic tidal waves,” meaning the currents of the ocean are flowing through the chamber, which is causing the harmonic sounds during death, as opposed to the undoubtedly-consonance-like sounds during the sinking of the ship.
This juxtaposition carries into the third stanza, where the reader is presented with the “mirrors,” once made for the wealthy, but are now used by the “sea-worm.” This juxtaposition serves to show how the ship sank from once serving the “opulent” to now serving the “grotesque, slimed.” Such a contrast in diction also shows the regret Hardy experiences over the lack of appreciation of the Titanic that the sea-creatures exude. In the fourth stanza, Hardy furthers this comparison by describing the “Jewels,” which were meant to “ravish the sensuous mind.” By describing the décor of the ship so greatly, Hardy has epitomized the “dumb and indifferent” persona of the fish in stanza three, as they do not seem to appreciate the “Jewels [of] Joy.”
During the first stanza, Hardy talks about the Titanic’s “solitude in the sea.” “Deep from human vanity,” implying that the reason the Titanic is so deep, sunk under water is due to the vanity that created her, and ultimately sank her. The headline of the Titanic was “unsinkable,” typifying the vanity she was associated with, and the captain that led the Titanic was rumored to have ordered the propellers travel at a faster speed despite numerous warnings of the danger of a crash.
In the second stanza, the once lively “salamandrine fires” of the Titanic are contrasted with the now cold, “steel chambers” of the sunken ship. Moreover, this can be viewed as a comparison between death (cold) and life (warm fire). In the last line of the stanza, Hardy describes the steel chambers as making “rhythmic tidal waves,” meaning the currents of the ocean are flowing through the chamber, which is causing the harmonic sounds during death, as opposed to the undoubtedly-consonance-like sounds during the sinking of the ship.
This juxtaposition carries into the third stanza, where the reader is presented with the “mirrors,” once made for the wealthy, but are now used by the “sea-worm.” This juxtaposition serves to show how the ship sank from once serving the “opulent” to now serving the “grotesque, slimed.” Such a contrast in diction also shows the regret Hardy experiences over the lack of appreciation of the Titanic that the sea-creatures exude. In the fourth stanza, Hardy furthers this comparison by describing the “Jewels,” which were meant to “ravish the sensuous mind.” By describing the décor of the ship so greatly, Hardy has epitomized the “dumb and indifferent” persona of the fish in stanza three, as they do not seem to appreciate the “Jewels [of] Joy.”