Thomas Hardy's poem "Convergence of the Twain" discusses a role of fate as a major theme. The poem was first published at an event held at the London’s Covent Garden Theatre in aid of the disaster fund in response to a tragedy event: the sinking of the Titanic. What one expects to find in a poem written in response to a tragedy on this scale, is the context that appeals to the one’s sympathy or sense of loss of lives undeservedly cut short. Thomas Hardy, however, chooses not to mention of a devastating loss of more than 1,500 lives and the sinking of the magnificent ship, but rather uses the tragedy to give lessons to us, as readers, on the act of over self-confidence as an act of Satan. Through means of imagery, irony and symbolism, Thomas Hardy gives to the readers the absence of everything one expects from the reading of this poem.
Irony is apparent in the way the author skillfully handles the situation of the victims. In cases where the author mentions the victims, he uses the words such as “the opulent” and “the sensuous mind”. These words made it …show more content…
Hardy makes use of juxtaposition and excessive use of irony. For instance in the first five stanzas of the poem, he seems to have a great contrast between the posh manner in which the titanic had been designed and its reality upon stepping on the surfaces of the ocean. In order to establish this, Hardy brings to light a number of features of the ship and what their intentions where in the first place. Hardy pointed out some ideas that seem to have uncovered his reasoning regarding the opulence dissevered and the extent to which it dazzled even the wealthiest. The irony here is the fact that this form of fantasy crushed in the depths of the sea. The great extravagance exemplified by the features of the titanic only brought fate to it since one would have expected to bring forth some sense of