'The Convergence of the Twain"- Structure

"The Convergence of the Twain"
by Thomas Hardy

When I read that this poem is about the Titanic, a famous ship, the very first thing I noticed was that the individual stanzas look like little boats on the ocean.  The first two lines are short, like a little ship, and the last line of the three-line stanza is long, like the vast waves of the ocean.


Another benefit of the two short lines and one long line deals with the subject matter discussed in the lines.  Overall, the first two lines describe the beauty, vanity, and opulence of the Titanic.  "...mirrors meant to glass the opulent..." "Jewels in joy designed to ravish the sensuous mind" (Hardy, 778).  This rich description helps the reader picture the grandeur of the ship in its prime: A huge ship built to cater to the desires of the wealthy, exhibiting the extremes of human vanity.  However, the reader will notice that the first two line are short.  This is symbolic of the brief nature of human vanity, and more specifically, the short-lived journey of the Titanic.  The Titanic, standing as a representation, even a quintessential example, of human vanity, sank fast.  The ship and vanity did not last long.  The third line, on the other hand, is long.  This third line of the stanza tends to describe the ocean, or underwater life, especially in the first half of the poem.  This underwater life does not have the beauty of the life above water.  In fact, the scene is described in scary and repulsive terms: "The sea-worm crawls- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent" (Hardy, 778).  These lines are longer to symbolize the eternal state of the Titanic.  The Titanic sank to the bottom of a dark ocean, where its beauty can no longer be appreciated, and for eternity, there it will stay.
The author uses structure to make a visual point, and also to show the journey of the Titanic: short-lived vanity to eternal darkness.