Poetry Page

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"THE CONVERGENCE
OF THE TWAIN"
By Thomas Hardy
(Lines on the loss of the 'Titanic')
I
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.
II
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
III
Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
IV
Jewels in joy designed
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
V
Dim moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: 'What does this vaingloriousness down here?'...
VI
Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything
VII
Prepared a sinister mate
For her -- so gaily great --
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.
VIII
And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue,
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
IX
Alien they seemed to be:
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history,
X
Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one august event,
XI
Till the Spinner of the Years
Said 'Now!' And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres.

Analysis

Stanza I
In this stanza, Hardy introduces the topic of his poem. He presents the Titanic as being in a sort of under water seclusion. She is "Deep from human vanity", the very vanity that created her, and eventually sank her. (All in all the Titanic had received six ice warnings, it was quite clear that the Titanic was steaming toward ice. However, Captain Smith did not order the Titanic to slow down, a very testament to his own personal vanity: Smith often boasted of his safe record at sea; perhaps as this was his last voyage, he insisted on maintaining speed so as to create a final headline.) He managed to create his headline. So now the Titanic rests away from the human vanity that caused her to sink in the first place.

An Advertisement for the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic

Stanza II
This stanza juxtaposes cold and hot, and on a symbolic level, life and death. It also contrasts the way the ship was in her glorious, unsinkable past, and how she is in her disintegrating present condition. The cold steel chambers filled with arctic currents, are compared to the warm fires that used to burn brightly on the ship. Hardy uses the word "pyres" to connote funeral pyres, and to add to the tone of loss. Hardy says that the chambers are now filled with the rhythmic music of the sea, which contrasts with the chaos of the Titanic's last few hours afloat.

The cold, steel "watertight" doors of the Titanic

Stanza III
Stanza three compares the civilized, wealthy world of the passengers of the Titanic, with the raw, natural world of the sea-worm. The reader is presented with a mirror on the ship, originally intended to reflect the wealthy physiques of the passengers of the ship. However, now it reflects the sea-worm, that is uninterested in the lavish life that used to inhabit the ship. It is "dumb, indifferent", words that seem bitter, as if the speaker resents the worm for not caring about the history of its habitat.

An Orange Fireworm

Stanza IV
Stanza four contains a hit as to who the speaker of the poem is. It reads "Jewels in joy designed"; this suggests that the speaker was a craftsman who worked on the ship. Otherwise, he would not know that the jewels were designed in joy. These "jewels" no lay lifeless on the ocean floor, much like the Titanic herself. Without the light of day, the sparkles of the jewels are gone. This stanza can be paralleled to stanza three. The jewels were supposed to "ravish the sensuous mind". However, in stanza three, the "dumb and indifferent" sea worm takes no notice of the dazzling decor of the ship.

A first class suite aboard the Titanic

Stanza V and VI
In stanza five, Hardy refers to the fish which now inhabit the Titanic. He uses personification and gives the fish an inquisitive attitude. They ask, "What does this vaingloriousness down here?" They wonder why this marvel rests on the ocean floor where it is obviously out of place. As stanza five asks the questions, stanza six presents an answer. While the speaker was creating the strong "unsinkable" ship, one that divided the ocean waters with ease, "The Immanent Will," destiny that is, was working its course.

One of three Propellors, buried in nearly 80 years of sand.

Stanza VII

This stanza is related to the latter two for it explains the destiny of the Titanic. Hardy reveals the Titanic's mate is an iceberg and again uses personification by referring to the iceberg as "sinister." Hardy also states a vast contrast between the iceberg and the Titanic, though the two are meant to meet. As the iceberg was "sinister" the Titanic is "gaily great." Despite this difference Hardy states that the two are destined to meet, although they are still of great distance from each other and within time they will meet for their final dance.

The Titanic steaming toward an iceberg

Stanza VIII
This stanza yet again parallels the latter idea of the Titanic and the iceberg. This time the Titanic is described as a smart ship which seems ironic for the ship is not smart enough to avoid the iceberg. Hardy again refers to the iceberg in a negative context. He speaks of the iceberg as being shadowy and silent, almost sneaking and creeping toward the Titanic.

The last authentic picture of Titanic ever taken.

Stanza IX and Stanza X

This stanza again speaks of the "Immanent Will" between the Titanic and the iceberg. Hardy states that destiny is upon the two, and because of their destiny, no one is able to predict that they will meet. In this stanza, it is mentioned that, "no mortal eye could see" which is relevant that although humans could not assume that the Titanic's fate would lie on the bottom of the ocean, a superior force not known to die knew and thus he created the fate of the iceberg and the Titanic. The stanza ten mentions that the paths, or destiny, of the Titanic and the iceberg would converge, hence the name of the poem. Hardy's use of personification is evident again. He uses the term "paths," which can be seen as giving the Titanic and the iceberg a life's destiny.

A depiction of the Titanic striking the iceberg.

Stanza XI
The last stanza mentions the "Spinners of the Years," which is fate, and the command, "Now!" which is given by the omnipresent force. The Titanic and iceberg met immediately by the irresponsibility of the crew who were not alert of the presence of the iceberg in the water, even after repeated warnings. Hardy ends the poem by stating the two have met. The "hemispheres" refer to the battle of two sides, machine and nature. Nature won this battle and the Titanic rests at the bottom of the sea as a testimony of Nature's victory.

Signal flares are shot into the air as the Titanic sinks further into the frigid water.

Tone: The tone of Hardy's poem, "The Convergence of the Twain," is one of loss. The speaker feels remorse not regarding the loss of human life, but the loss of the Titanic itself. Despite his feeling of loss, the speaker conveys the fate that the Titanic and the iceberg were destined to collide. The speaker in the poem presents this tone as of loss because he was one of the ship builders and he had spent a great deal of time in the craftsmanship of the glorious Titanic.

Summary: Hardy's poem, "The Convergence of the Twain," can be summed up with three words: craftsmanship, loss, and destiny. The effort that the speaker puts into building the Titanic is obviously one of great craftsmanship for he speaks of the steel chambers, ravishing jewels, sparkling shiny mirrors, and the strength of the ship in general. The speaker tells of the loss of the Titanic, by mentioning the personal craftsmanship contributed to making the Titanic the ship of dreams. Hardy represents this loss of the speaker by describing how the ship used to slice the ocean with its "cleaving wing" but now sits on the ocean floor rotting. The destiny is the main theme of the poem. Throughout the poem, Hardy mentions that the iceberg and the Titanic are slowly meeting. By the last few stanzas the two have met; thus their destiny's have been fulfilled. In addition, Hardy uses an extended metaphor throughout his last five stanzas of the poem. Such words as mate (VII), intimate welding (IX), and consummation (XI) to describe that the iceberg and Titanic were fated to be married to each other. Consummation should not, however, be restricted to the idea of marriage, but also to a state of completion.

Modern Society and the Titanic

        The sinking of the Titanic occurred over eighty years ago, yet current society is still very much a part of this legend. When the Titanic sank on April 14th 1912, it was a tragic, terrifying event that interested thousands of people to write books, watch movies, make their own web cites, collect merchandise, travel to conventions on the Titanic, join clubs, and even come up with their own theories of what happened on that dreadful evening. The mayhem that society has created over the final event of the Titanic was noticeable in the early 1900’s, though the event has become even more popular with this generation because of the number of books, access to the Internet, and the release of the movie Titanic in 1997.
        In 1912, Marshall Everett decided to write the book The Sinking of the Titanic. He hoped to generate a profit for he believed that many Americans would be interested about what had occurred. Selling his book for a nickel, he sold over a thousand copies. Today, mainly because of the obsessive interests people have on the Titanic, this book is now a collectors piece worth about seventy-five dollars too almost a hundred dollars!
        Before 1997, an incredible amount of people found the story of the Titanic remarkable, yet, when James Cameron decided to write and direct his movie, Titanic, no one could have assumed that it would generate a majority of the publics interest in the United States as well as other countries. The fictional account of Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) allows viewers to experience and see exactly what happened on the Titanic. This movie set box office records on the total gross earned, and also has sold incredible amounts of DVD and VHS recordings of Titanic. Cameron’s ability to recreate the Titanic earned him the awards from the Academy for Best Picture, and Best Director, as well the Titanic earned the award of Best Actress for Kate Winslet and Best Supporting Actress for Gloria Stuart. Cameron’s interest in the Titanic, and the reason he decided to make his movie can be summed up by his statement, “Titanic is not just a cautionary tale – a myth, a parable, a metaphor for the ills of mankind. It is also a story of faith, courage, sacrifice, and, above all else, love.”
        The Titanic, nonetheless, has entertained people by movies, books or other forms. As the catch phrase in the Titanic said by Rose (Kate Winslet) to Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), “I’ll never let go,” and it looks like society feels the same way towards the story and legend of the Titanic.

A Brief Account of the Voyage of the Titanic

The Titanic, after receiving enormous media attention to being the largest ship ever built, was ready to take passengers on April 10, 1912. The Titanic started out this important day with a mandatory life boat drill, and then took on most of the second and third class passengers followed by the first class passengers. The Titanic took voyage through the English Channel to Cherbourg, France where it picked up more passengers and mail. the Titanic stopped next at Port of Queenstown where it picked up more passengers and mail before it's last stop at the bottom of the sea on April 14, 1912.
    On the night of the 14th, an iceberg was spotted dead ahead in the crows next of the ship; the crows nest being the lookout point on top of the ship. Binoculars weren't in the birds next, so the iceberg was seen at the last possible minute. The alert was called down to the control room, and the First Officer gave the order that the engines be reversed. The Titanic swung to hit the iceberg on it's right side below the water line damaging at least five of the lower compartments, which took on water immediately. The Titanic was doomed to sink because it could only stay afloat if a maximum of four compartments were flooded, while the iceberg ripped open five compartments.
    While the water burst open the other compartments like an ice cube tray, the passengers were give notice that the ship was sinking, and they were told to put on their vests and head to the lifeboats. Radio messages were sent and flares were shot every four to five minutes, but there wasn't any ship in the immediate position to be of assistance right away. The Titanic had only a little over two hours from the time it was hit until it sank, and that wasn't enough time to get any help.
    The life boats were filled with mainly women and children first, but they were only filled partially and set off. An example is Lifeboat 7, which was filled with twenty-eight people when it could have held sixty-five. Despite this anarchy, there weren't enough lifeboats for all of the passengers even if the lifeboats had been loaded at full capacity. The last lifeboat got free a little before 2:00 a.m. The stern was rising steadily out of the water because of the weight in the front compartments until it rose suddenly at a ninety degree angle to the water at 2:17, and sank into the water only leaving debris, lifeboats, bodies, and steam behind.

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Thomas Hardy