"The Convergence of the Twain (Lines on the loss of the ''Titanic'')" is a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

, published in 1912. The poem describes the sinking and

wreckage Wreckage may refer to: * Debris Music * ''Wreckage'' (album), a 2002 album by Overseer * ''Wreckage'' (1969 band), a late 1960s band notable for featuring future Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury as a member * ''Wreckage'', a 1997 EP by the band E ...

of the ocean liner ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

''. "Convergence" consists of eleven stanzas (''I'' to ''XI'') of three lines each, following the AAA rhyme pattern.

Themes and structure

One interpretation is that Hardy's controversial poem contrasts the materialism and hubris of mankind with the integrity and beauty of nature. This is accomplished in an almost satirical manner, given the absence of compassion and not even any reference to the huge loss of life that accompanied the ship's sinking. It is also possible that Hardy, who aspired to become an architect but lacked the resources to do so, criticizes what to him seem the unnecessary pursuits of wealthy people, epitomized in the building of such an enormous luxury vessel. The references in the first stanza to "human vanity" and "the Pride of Life that planned her" support such an interpretation. The reader might expect to see grief, a depiction of the chaos, or an emotive telling of individual losses. The poem fails to fulfil such expectations, instead focusing on the ship and the iceberg and how the two came to converge. Seen as the epitome of Britain’s wealth and power, the ''Titanic'' was extravagantly appointed for the British and American rich, and exhibited the new technology and fashions of the day. In the eyes of its makers the ship was unsinkable. Critic Peter Childs describes the ''Titanic'' as "full of

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

confidence but bound for disaster" and it is this display of vanity and pride that Hardy sardonically highlights in the first five stanzas, as he contrasts the ship’s current position at the bottom of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

to its glorious construction and launch. By juxtaposing expensive items like the "jewels in joy designed" with their sea-bed position where they "lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind" (IV, 12), Hardy emphasises the immense waste caused by the sinking. Another stanza has: "Dim moon-eyed fishes near/Survey the gilded gear/And query:"What does this vaingloriousness down here?" At the beginning of the sixth stanza, there is a definite shift where Hardy goes from looking at the ship’s past and present to discussing the cause of the disaster, the collision of the ship and the iceberg. The pairing of the two or the idea of a pair is constructed before the poem even starts. In the title, ‘Twain’, the archaic word for ‘two’ is used, generating the idea of a pairing, with the most obvious pair being the ship and the iceberg. From the sixth stanza onwards, Hardy’s lexis suggests that the ‘convergence’ of the two forces was predestined, an unavoidable event premeditated by some hidden, uncontrollable force which is indicated in phrases like “The Immanent Will” (VI, 18) and “the Spinner of Years” (XI, 31). Although these phrases are used in his novels to denote the forces that work in human life, in the poem the unspoken force Hardy suggests may be nature; the pairing of human technology and nature can be seen quite clearly in the poem with all the new technologies of humans set against the bigger force of nature. Hardy discusses that whilst the ''Titanic'' was being built, nature too “prepared a sinister mate” (VII, 19) and, in the next stanza, Hardy creates a sense of menace in the lines “And as the smart ship grew/In stature, grace and hue/In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too” (VIII, 22 – 24). Whilst critic Chris Baldick claims Hardy’s The Convergence of the Twain “alludes to a philosophical stance” and that it “carefully refrains from moralizing”, fellow critic

Donald Davie Donald Alfred Davie, FBA (17 July 1922 – 18 September 1995) was an English Movement poet, and literary critic. His poems in general are philosophical and abstract, but often evoke various landscapes. Biography Davie was born in Barnsley, ...

claims the poem “very markedly censures the vanity and luxury which created and inhabited the staterooms of the ocean liner” therefore suggesting Hardy does moralize. Unspoken expectations of the poem are left unfulfilled. Rather than offering the reader comfort, someone to blame or emotive passenger stories, Hardy leaves the reader with an overwhelming sense of insignificance, depicting man highest technological achievement as easily beaten by nature. Humans will always be subject to nature which is unsympathetic to “human vanity” (I, 2) and “Pride of Life” (I, 3).

Related works

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

also wrote a poem called "The Convergence of the Twain", mimicking Hardy's style, but describing the events of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. In 2012 composer

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...

conducted the world premiere of his new composition ''The Convergence of the Twain'', a setting of the Hardy poem, at the St Endellion Music Festivals in Cornwall, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ''

''.

References

External links

Text of "Convergence" from University of Toronto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Convergence of the Twain, The 1915 poems Poetry by Thomas Hardy Works about RMS Titanic