The Convergence of the Twain

I think the phrase ' deep from human vanity' is an interesting way to start off the poem. I think the author is trying to portray that the iceberg is purely a thing of nature and 'human vanity' kind of criticises the Titanic in a way because it belittles the ship's greatness, making it sound like it is out of human vanity and how it affects nature (the iceberg). The need to be the greatest made the ship suffer from something little. This idea also comes across in the eighth stanza where it says - 'And as the smart ship grew, in stature, grace, and hue, in shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too'. This is interesting because it talks about both things getting nearer to each other as 'growing', which also emphasises that the greater and mightier the ship looked, the greater the power the iceberg had to ruin it, even if it doesn't compare to the ship in size. Also, the fact that the word 'Iceberg' starts off with a capital letter, shows that the author wanted it to be a proper noun, like the 'Titanic'. To me, it seems like the author is trying to portray both things as equal to each other, even if at the time, it didn't seem like it. They overestimated the ship's capabilities. The author also refers to them as 'twin halves' in the tenth stanza, which supports this idea that he wanted them to seem equal.

The way the author describes the Titanic in the fourth stanza is very contradicting. He talks about jewels and how they 'ravish the sensuous mind' but then goes on to talk about it as 'lightless', 'bleared', 'black' and 'blind'. This shows how the Titanic was before and after it crossed paths with the iceberg. This is an interesting way to tell the story because the numbered stanzas suggest that each events are chronological but then again, the author talks about how destiny changed this and how unfortunate and unexpected events ruined the ship's mightiness. He gives clues all throughout like in the fourth stanza, describing it like the ship had died already. And also, he talks about 'the Pride of Life that planned her' in the first stanza, which suggests that the iceberg had a destiny waiting for it, that it had a purpose.

There are many sexual references throughout the poem as well such as 'intimate welding', 'sensuous mind' and 'consummation'. This is interesting because it is describing how the ship and the iceberg clashed. However, describing it through sexual terms makes it sound like it was a good thing, when it was one of the worst tragedies in history. This suggests a hint of irony.

Calling the ship and the iceberg as 'two hemispheres', in the very last phrase of the last stanza, in my opinion, is also very dramatic and a great end to the poem. This is because the word hempishere makes them both sound more mighty and bigger than they actually were. It is kind of like a parting lesson that no matter how big and mighty you look on the outside, you can still suffer or fail.