As developed in his poem“The Convergence of the Twain,” Hardy’s idea on the sinking of the Titanic is rooted in inevitability; according to him, human vanity, in all of its vaingloriousness, cannot combat the forces of a greater power, and this pivotal oversight resulted in the mass shock subsequent to the destruction of the aforementioned vessel. Hardy’s implementation of a rhetorical shift in verse VI helps to characterize the collision between the Titanic and the iceberg as an inescapable manifestation of nature. Prior to the shift, the speaker provides the reader with description concerning the state of the vessel underwater; images of “gilded gear[s]” are juxtaposed with the grotesqueness of sea worms. At the end of verse V, fish swimming…show more content… The ninth verse presents a rather counterintuitive contrast; despite the opposite characteristics of the Titanic and the iceberg rendering them seemingly incompatible, their paths, unbeknownst to the rest of the human world, were fated to cross. The phrase “intimate welding,” used to describe the coming-together of the two objects, is suggestive of a relationship. The other prominent word that fits this connotation, “consummation,” appears in the final line of the final verse; the word itself denotes a relationship between two unlike entities. The use of this language, which does hold some sexual meaning, indicates that the baby - the metaphorical product of the collision between the vessel and the iceberg - is the tragedy and death that resulted from the sinking. The word “consummation,” and also the fact that two objects are “alien,” suggests that the relationship is not mutual; it is as if nature is invading the ambitions of humanity with a violent and rather sudden force. By including this metaphor - which can be interpreted as a figurative form of sexual defilement - Hardy is able to convey that the force of the universe cannot be reckoned with, despite man’s attempt to do so with the creation of an alleged unsinkable ship; nature always emerges