Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Going - Settings

This poem does not have a certain setting that the readers can actually visualise. The setting that Thomas Hardy is trying to portray is based on his mental state more than his physical state. He sets the poem within his own thoughts, particularly thoughts of the past and the thoughts of his wife dying. Yes, he remembers actual places like the 'Beeny Crest' where he first met his wife but these are subtle settings that we can visualise only for the moment. The most important thing is what is happening within Hardy's heart and mind, which is where the poem really is set. It is through his heart and mind that he even mentions these places connected to him and his his wife. 'The Going' is a poem portraying melancholy and loss. The poem concentrates on Hardy's feeling of distress, why he had lost his wife and questions of how he could possibly cope with not being able to see her again. His mentality is connected with that of his wife even though he knows his wife is now somewhere that he 'could not follow'. Hardy also shows a feeling of regret and sets himself back to the times when they had their good memories. He dwells on the memory of those places and regrets not making the most of their time together when it was still possible. He says - 'Did we not think of those days long dead, and ere you're vanishing strive to seek that time's renewal?'. The whole poem is set in the past, Hardy's mind and heart going along with it, with no sense of hope, as he says it is 'unchangeable', and no hope of setting himself back to the present to be able to start moving on and forward.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

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.