The Convergence Of The Twain By Thomas Hardy

Written ten days after the sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage with the loss of 1513 lives, the "Convergence of the Twain" was initially written for a gala in aid of the Titanic Disaster Fund. Essentially, "The Convergence of the Twain" is a social commentary and social critique of human vanity and "pride of life" which were expressed in the opulent style of the ship's construction. While the loss of the titanic was a very human tragedy and despite the fact that two of Hardy's friends were among the dead, Hardy appears less concerned with lamenting or remembering the dead as he

In “The Convergence of the Twain,” by Thomas Hardy, the speaker opens up his attitude towards the sinking of the ship. What the title, “The Convergence of the Twain,” means is when two things come together to merge into one, in this case, the iceberg and the ship. The speaker uses multiple poetic devices to convey his opinion that the sinking of the ship was not a surprise, but rather something that nature has control over man. As tragic as it may sounds, the speaker elucidates the idea that everything has a plan, the sinking of the ship was inevitable. By depicting mankind’s pride and vanity, the speaker uses imagery, connotative diction, and metaphors to demonstrate that the sinking of the ship was not a tragedy.

Hawthorne's use of the contrasting diction demonstrates the two opposing sides of the ocean. Above the water represents the ups and downs of life, as the waves move. The “fury on the waves” gives a negative connotation, showing the difficult times that life can bring. The “wearied seaman” also show the exhaust and tiredness that they feel from their hectic lives. Contrasting, below the water is described as “deep, quiet, and alone.” This is depicting death or a “peaceful sleep.” Along with underwater displaying death, Hawthorne also adds a religious piece to it. He writes, “hold their communion there” and uses words such as “blest” and

The work devolves from its first chapters, however, and becomes something very different by the end of the novel. A Connecticut Yankee's climactic, blood-letting ending, in particular, stands out as amateurish bungling by the author. Twain, in a burst of what seems, upon initial investigation, a beginning writer's attempt to resolve a novel that has spiraled out of his control, kills off his antagonists and finally his protagonist as well. It seems that Twain throws his hands up in frustration and ends the action in an orgy of electrocutions and Gatling gun fire. ". . . the book is chaos. Twain's mind was not able to stay within[satire's] limits. His imaginative ferment demanded gigantic expression," (DeVoto, 278). An alternate reading of the conclusion, however, allows the reader to take a vastly different critical angle on the book.

The construction of the Titanic started on March 31, 1909 and finished on May 31, 1911. During the process, constructors made sure to make the Titanic as attractive as possible, accessorizing it with many iconic features such as the ship’s grand staircase and its promenade deck. Many people at the time believed that the Titanic would never sink, therefore naming it the “Unsinkable ship” after it has set sail. Unfortunately, the unsinkable ship collided with an iceberg on April 14, 1912, claiming the lives of 1,500 passengers. As a result, the Titanic broke into two and sunk, leaving behind its legacy. Thomas Hardy provides a poem that acknowledges the sinking of the Titanic. Unlike the many similar reactions of grief and sorrow that the people had, Hardy approaches the event differently. In the poem, "The Convergence of the Twain," Thomas Hardy uses a variety of rhetorical devices to express his disdain for the vanity of humans during the first half of the poem and to explain that fate’s work resulted in the outcome of the Titanic during the second half of the poem.

Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was born John and Jane Clemens on November 30, 1835. His father had many professions which include: storekeeper, lawyer, judge, and land speculator; however, he, much like his son, was never able to reach what he desired most, wealth. Samuel Clemens’ father passed away when he was twelve years older his father died and to help support the family he obtained a job was at the Hannibal Courier as an apprentice printer. In 1859, Clemens was licensed as a steamboat pilot; however, when the Civil War broke out he could no longer work on the river and joined a volunteer unit for the Confederates. He moved to the west coast and began to writing for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprising, publishing his

Often times in poetry, authors use metaphors and imagery to relate thematic elements in their writing to significant components of their personal life or general human nature. Frequently, poets use their writing as a vehicle to subtly narrate their inner struggles or personal conflicts to the audience. In the poem “The Convergence of the Twain,” author Thomas Hardy introduces the harsh relationship between human vanity and the formidable power of nature. Due to Hardy’s upbringing in rural England, he often wrote about his isolated life and the hindrance that work and religion had on his education. According to Wikipedia, Hardy also criticized those involved in English Victorian society and the declining status of rural men and women. The recurring themes of man’s inferiority and the worthlessness of material values in Hardy’s work can be attributed to his belief that religion and human materialism are often at the root of unhappiness and mankind’s inferiority to nature. Similar to Hardy’s frustration during his childhood, author Elizabeth Bishop grew up in the early 1900s with an unstable family while struggling to find a place of belonging in society. Prior to moving in with her grandparents, Bishop’s father passed away before she was one year of age and her mother suffered through serious mental instability until she was admitted to an institution when Bishop turned five years old. In Bishop’s poem “The Fish,” the author utilizes vivid imagery to highlight the positive

Trivy Lepham Mrs. Allen AP Literature, P.4 4 February 2015 The Ungrateful In the poem, “The Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy, there are many different kinds of poetic devices that the writer uses to portray the overall meaning of the poem. The writer uses mostly imagery, personification, and diction to describe the destruction of God by stating the fact that the Titanic was once elegant and beautiful until tragedy happened and made the ship turned into, as stated, “grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent…” Thomas Hardy uses a lot of imagery throughout his poem to create an imagination for the reader of how the ship went from elegant and beautiful to a completely demolished object. In the first stanza of the poem, Hardy describes

The adventures of huckleberry Finn is about a boy named huckleberry who lives with Widow Douglas who adopted him and her sister miss Watson. His father is an excessive drinker and was not nice to huckleberry. His father comes back. He wants huckleberry’s money he had gotten previously that was being managed for him. Judge thatcher and Widow Douglas tried to get custody of him but unfortunately the judge does not see it the same way and attempts to help his father quit his ways so he can get his son. After the widow tells him to stay away from huckleberry his father gets angry and kidnaps him. It is after this and a few horrible acts that Huck fakes his own death and escapes to an island in the middle of the river. While there him and Jim who

Hardy especially expresses this in stanzas 6-8, where stanza 7 says, “The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything/ Prepared a sinister mate/ For her—so gaily great—A Shape of Ice,…” In “The Convergence of the Twain,” the Titanic and the iceberg are reimagined as soul mates that were destined to meet in the end. Hardy was able to analyze this moment in time and discover a new emotion in the sinking of the Titanic by using the organizational form of the poem to suggest that the merging of the Titanic and iceberg was

Thomas Hardy’s “Convergence of the Twain” is a poem written about the sinking of the Titanic. Hardy treats the event as a sensual interaction between the iceberg and the Titanic. He begins the poem talking about the how the darkness at the bottom of the ocean covers the true and intended beauty of the Titanic. He describes how the Titanic, which was intended to be the Queen of the ocean at the time, now lays at the bottom with the natural fish of the ocean. Hardy then presents the iceberg as a Companion for the Titanic and corolates the building of the ship and the formation of the iceberg as growing in the relationship. Hardy then reiterates that the collision

Humanities beauty is juxtaposed through their corruption and vanity. In Thomas Hardy’s poem, The Convergence of Twain, Hardy’s use of poetic devices facilitates the overlying theme of human vaingloriousness. This vaingloriousness ever present in the momental human creation of the Titanic will always contort to the supremacy of nature and how humans will always be second rate compared to nature, as the world nature originated will control humanity.

Many individuals experience the deteriorating effect that human selfishness and pride has in the current era. Throughout Thomas Hardy’s accusingly flippant poem, “The Convergence of the Twain,” the speaker manipulates the scene of the sinking Titanic to express vanity with the influence of the title, voice of the speaker and poetic forms.

Trust is having the confidence to rely on someone or something. This attribute is extremely hard to achieve and requires sacrifices. For Huck to find a home or a place he is comfortable with he needs to have the feeling that he is surrounded by characters of reliance and assurance. Huck Finn has a highly different perspective of the world opposed to the people who surround him. Most importantly, Huck struggles heavily on determining the difference between right and wrong because of the people around him that influence him. He makes his decisions based upon past experiences dictated by trust. Mark Twain makes the choice of a social satire because having Huck tell the story allows the reader to see and understand how a child interprets what happens around him. The reader can then view Hucks thought process and grasp what he is feeling. For example, while being around his father, Huck does not feel safe therefore he runs away. Throughout the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck comes across multiple families and people, yet he never experiences a truly comfortable feeling among any family due his conscience constantly fighting with his white southern instincts.

It is vital for the reader of this paper to know what Mark Twain used in his story ¨The Invslidś Story¨ read the following paper to find out. In this research paper the reader will know what Mark Twain used and how he used words to come up with a great story. The reader will learn everything from Themes to Literary Devices to Mark Twainś writing style. Hopefully when the reader gets done reading this they will be more educated about his work. In the story ¨The Invalidś Story¨ Mark twain uses mortality and humor just as he did in his other works such as ¨Tom Sawyer¨.