Graves, R.N. (1995). Hardy's "The Convergence of the Twain." The Explicator, 53 (2): 96-99.

In this essay, the eventual unity of the iceberg and the Titanic is described as a kind of love relationship. Ironically, the supposedly unsinkable ship and the iceberg were 'born for one another' to create a historical, real life metaphor of the folly of humanity. The word 'consummation' at the end of the poem is given great significance. There is a kind of humor to how the jarring hemispheres -- the 'shaken world' -- makes the crash seem like a common wedding night metaphor -- 'the earth moved.' The unity of ship and iceberg is like a sexual union of an overly willing groom and a cold bride. The ship is an illustration of the Victorian folly of trying to overcome the natural world -- both the coldness of the...

I wanted to study Thomas Hardy's poem "The Convergence of the Twain" to see how a contemporary poet viewed the event. I learned that the idea that the Titanic symbolized human folly and arrogance was common even at the time the ship sunk. However, Hardy used the metaphor of the sinking ship as a metaphor for something larger -- the arrogant idea that human will could control the world. The Victorian Era that Hardy was attempting to critique believed that rationalism could build an empire and channel baser human impulses. The Titanic, in Hardy's view, showed that Man was still a slave to natural forces, including the forces of history.