The Convergence of the Twain

1 This objective pronoun refers to the Titanic.

2 In the calmness of a part of the sea, far from human pride that served as the main ambition for constructing the Titanic, it quietly lies down on the sea bottom.

3 “Steel chamber” is a furnace in which heat is generated by the combustion of fuel.

4 In mythology, salamander, a lizard like amphibian, was believed to be capable of residing in fire. Most probably, the fire which is generated in the furnace of the ship is representative of power of the Titanic.

5 “Thrid” is another form of thread which means to occur throughout.

6 “Lyre” is a musical instrument with strings across a U-shaped frame, played with the fingers, especially in ancient Greece.

7 In this stanza, the poet addresses all that belong to the ship engine as a source of power such as furnace and heap of charcoal and also asserts that they are no longer in existence. Instead, the cold waves of water permeate through the sunk ship and render it to fluctuate like the rhythmical vibrations of strings in lyre. 

8 The sea-worm indifferently crawls on muddy and filthy mirrors at the bottom of the ocean which were once supposed to reflect the highly graceful possessions of the passengers and also the luxurious decorations and expensive materials of the ship. The adjectives “grotesque”, “slimed”, “dumb”, and “indifferent” are generally attributed to the whole situation of the third stanza.

9 The word “their” refers to “jewels”.

10 The jewels were joyfully used in the construction of the Titanic to influence the captive minds and delight the senses, now lay lackluster on the seabed.

11 The gear of the ship is covered with gold.

12 “Vaingloriousness” refers to the state of exhibiting excessive vanity.

13 Most probably, the cleaving wings refer to bows, the front sections of the ship, which cleave the water and help propel the ship.

14 “Immanent Will” is attributed to God or any spiritual power that exists everywhere and conducts or determines every occurrence in nature.

15 When the mighty ship was being constructed, God or any superior “Will” that destine all the events had pre-determined an ominous associate for it, spatially and temporally far from it, in the shape of “Ice”.

16. The pronoun refers to both the Titanic and the “Iceberg”.

17 “August event” refers to an important event.

18 Although it was preordained for both the Titanic and the “Iceberg” to follow the paths leading to collision, no one could predict the far-fetched, sudden and forcible contact of the Titanic and the “Iceberg” as the two parts of an important incident.

19 It refers back to “Immanent Will”.

20.  “Consummation” indicates the situation in which the ship and the “Iceberg” come together.

21  To “jar ” means to clash.

22 When the time comes, as the omnipotent “Will” had determined beforehand, the Titanic and the “Iceberg” clash as the two parts of the occasion.

ANALYSIS

“The Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy is written in 11 stanzas with a rhyme scheme of aaa and is subtitled “Lines on the loss of the Titanic”, the luxury ocean liner sank after striking against an iceberg on April 15, 1912 during its voyage from Southampton to New York. In accordance with the theme of the poem, one can divide the poem into two parts; the first five stanzas express the contrast between the dazzling display of the Titanic as the most colossal moving object at that time, and the corroded, lackluster ship on the ocean floor. The next six stanzas emphasize on determinism and the fact that the clash of the ship and iceberg was foreordained from the word go.

The first part of the poem portrays the Titanic as a symbol of human’s strength and accomplishment. Hardy’s choice words such as “vanity”, “vaingloriousness”, and “pride” indicate the man’s ambition which could eventually lead to the construction of something that evokes astonishment and admiration. In addition, there are some words and expressions like “steel chambers”, “salamandrine fires”, and “cleaving wings” which refer to the power of the Titanic and on the other hand, the words “opulent”, “jewels”, and “gilded gear” attribute glory and grace to the ship. 

Nevertheless, in the first five stanzas through the images of indifferent sea-worm which is crawling on the filthy mirrors that once reflected wealth and beauty, fishes fixed look and attention at the gold-plated gear, and jewels lay scattered on the bottom of the sea, one can simply infer that all this magnificence and splendor now lie on the seabed lacking previous brightness and vitality which can be taken into account as contrastive to the aforementioned images depicting vigor and greatness of the Titanic. these images

In accordance with the Hardy’s deterministic view, the last six stanzas represent the fact that while the Titanic was being constructed on schedule, an iceberg was being created at the same time as if they were predestined to collide one another at a specified time and location. “As the smart ship grew in stature, grace, and hue, in shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too”. Hardy references an external force that conducts the world calling it “The Immanent Will” and later on “The Spinner of the Years”. In this poem Hardy reveals his naturalistic concepts of determinism, although this revealing is closer to acknowledging the fates of ancient Greek mythology, the three goddesses who controlled what happened to people and often called the spinners of destiny, than accepting the existence of a god with a particular arrangement for the world.

On the other hand, naturalism often describes the characters as though they are conditioned and controlled by environment, heredity, and chance. If one believes that it is the chance that rules our lives not God and there is no rational guiding force behind the world, then the result will be chaos. This occasion, either arranged beforehand or accidental, is based upon chaos which can be substantiated through the words “stir” and “urge” in the last line of the sixth stanza.

Moreover, in the poem the ship is gendered as female, identified using the pronoun “she”, whereas the iceberg is generally gendered as male. Most probably, the words “ravish”, “mate”, “intimate welding”, and “consummation” all contribute to support the sexual image of a male ravishing an exquisitely attractive female.

Ultimately, with respect to Thomas Hardy being a naturalist, one can infer a predisposition towards mocking science and technology through the opposition between nature (the iceberg) and Victorian society (the Titanic) in which nature overpowers. On the contrary to the theme of man in unity with nature which calls attention in many of his other poems, this poem suggests the disharmony of nature in association with human life. Additionally, sadness is evident in this poem, most probably not for loss of the Titanic, but rather sadness emerging out of perceiving that one’s life is directed without choice and volition. Accordingly, “without free will, we seem diminished, merely the playthings of external forces. How, then, can we maintain an exalted view of ourselves? Determinism seems to undercut human dignity; it seems to undermine our value.”