no rhyme or alliteration or assonance. It is as if Slavitt is merely speaking to his audience. He speaks as though he possesses a wisdom from the graves of those who passed. This perspective is in opposition to the view of the Titanic taken by Thomas Hardy.Much unlike Slavitt; Thomas Hardy, in his “Convergence of the Twain”, interprets the Titanic tragedy as a vain, somber, sudden event. In many ways the Titanic could be viewed as vain. The fancied up ship and fancied up people all rest at the bottom of the sea. This is where they lie all because of vanity. But where is the vanity now? The beauty which once was now “sparkles bleared and black and blind.” What a somber and lonely place to be at the bottom of the sea. The cold, murky water surrounding you in silence. Now the Titanic and all it’s glory rest at the ocean floor swimming with fish who ponder it’s “vangloriousness”. All of this happened in an instant; an instant in which “twin halves” (the iceberg and Titanic) converge. Suddenly, “consumption comes”.I also agree with Hardy on his perspective of this event. Although his opinion is quite depressing, it still speaks truth about the event. Hardy uses a closed form of poetry in presenting his idea. By using a mixture of rhyme and alliteration he feeds the feeling of a dull repetition. At least I believe this was his intent. He has organized his poem in an exceptional manner. In all there are eleven sets of three lines. Each set has a common ending rhyme. As well as rhyming, the sets all correspond to the hours on a clock. The final set ends as the iceberg and ship collide. The final hour, midnight is left out for us to assume that it marks the end: death. Also, the last line ends abruptly symbolizing a blunt conclusion to lives of the people aboard the ship. This poem is elaborately centered around the idea of death and the cold that e...
