"The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy

# 8

The tone of the poem is somber with an eerie twist. To explain further, it's somber in the sense that it alludes to the sinking the Titanic and all the ruin. However, I found it to be almost eerie for several reasons. The first is the imagery of "dim moon-eyed" fish swimming around the ship's ruin and "the sea-worm" crawling over the mirrors. These creatures give an eerie feel to the poem whose main subject (the Titanic) is deep below the sea. Also, the poem hints at the fact that this was God's plan for the ship to sink. To support this, the poem mentions the "Immanent Will" and "Spinner of the Years" which, through their titles and capitalization, represent God. If God's will was to end lives and have the ocean consume the ship, I see this as semi eerie to discuss in this poem.

I also saw the tone as reprimanding for all those lost in vanity that were on the Titanic. The first two lines "In a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity" show that this ship has lost all the vanity it once held. So consumed by wealth were the passengers that they forgot about the "Spinner of the Years" or God.