Convergence Of The Twain By Thomas Hardy Essay

In Greek mythology, Daedalus was an inventor who was confined within his own creation of the Labyrinth. Daedalus hatched a plan for him and his son, Icarus, to escape: wings made of feathers and wax. The father warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, for the wax will melt from the extreme heat. Icarus enjoyed the feeling of flying and eventually became so extremely arrogant that he overlooked his father’s rule and soared towards the sun. The heat from the sun melted the wax of Icarus’s wings, sending him falling to his death. That excessive pride in challenging the power of nature is a common flaw of all humans. In “Convergence of the Twain”, Thomas Hardy does not show the same sympathy for Titanic disaster as others throughout history. Instead, he emphasizes the inescapable destruction and death caused by the glorious ship. Through the use of poetic devices, Hardy depicts the inevitable doom that occurs when the vanity and lavishness of humans challenges the forces of nature.
Hardy assembles powerful diction to explain the clash between manmade wonders and nature. The Titanic and its treasures lay at rest on the bottom of the ocean floor, decaying amongst the aquatic life that thrive their natural environment. Throughout the poem, the material beauty of the ship
Hardy expresses that the catastrophic event was destined to happen by “Immanent Will” and the “Spinner of Years”, instead of just an accident. The title of the poem, “Convergence of the Twain” means the joining together of two, but is more than just the merging of the Titanic and iceberg. The forces that collide are the vanity of humans versus nature. Whereas many view the boat as a splendid wonder in its size and opulence, Hardy observes it as human’s “vaingloriousness”. He reminds that at the bottom of the ocean all of the luxurious items mean absolutely