The poem "The Convergence of the Twain", by Thomas Hardy, tells the story of the titanic in an unusual form. Hardy does not concentrate on the lives lost but the two big entities, the Titanic and the Iceberg. The author tells his own version of this tale in this dramatic poem. Throughout the poem he uses different poetic devices to show his attitude about the sinking of the ship.
In the beginning of the poem, he establishes the mood of the poem in the deep, peaceful, ocean floor. When Hardy writes, "Deep from human vanity, And the Pride of Life that planned her, still couches she," he is saying that the ship is so deep that it is now hidden away from the vanity and the pride that was once linked with it. The very vanity that created her eventually sank her. In stanzas three and four, Hardy describes the mirrors that once reflected the opulence of the Titanic and how the sea worms are "blinded" so that they cannot see the glory that once was and jewels that now lay unappreciated and lifeless. Using an apostrophe in the fifth stanza, Hardy gives the fish an inquisitive mind, questioning why such a marvel lies there. That question is answered in the next stanza "the Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything." This is saying that destiny was working its course. In the first five stanzas, hardy describes the Titanic in its present state, "grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.".
In stanzas six through eight, the author describes the creation of "a sinister mate" for the Titanic. "The Immanent Will" conspires with the creation of the iceberg with the building of the ship. There is though a great contrast between the Titanic and it's mate as Hardy uses an apostrophe to describe the Iceberg as "sinister" and the Titanic as "so gaily great." The author also uses irony when he calls the ship "smart" because the crew of the ship was not very smart they did not take notice to the warnings of the iceberg.
