Technical Review of Thomas Hardy’s "The Convergence of the Twain – Lines on the Loss of the Titanic"

This poem examines the R.M.S. Titanic’s triumph while she sailed, the bleakness of her sunken remains, and the might of the iceberg that tore her apart.

The poem is broken into three line stanzas. Interestingly, Hardy aligns the first two lines of each stanza in the center above the third so that the stanza looks like a triangle. For instance:

(Underscores are spaces in the printed version)
________In a solitude of the sea
________Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planner her, stilly couches she.

The pattern might represent the Titanic, the tides that have flowed past her since she sunk in 1912, or the passenger’s view of the iceberg that sunk the ship. Either way, it creates a sonic ebb and flow when reading the poem. Also contributing to this flow is Hardy’s use of end rhyme, which he applies to all three lines in each stanza.

There is no consistent line length for first, second, and third lines in each stanza. Most stanzas in the poem, however, contain twenty-five or twenty-six syllables, and exhibit iambic behavior when read as a complete stanza, as opposed to line by line. Considering the use of lines as visual elements, this is a sensible approach to structuring each stanza. A few substitutions are allowed for long, descriptive words. This implies that vocabulary drove sections of the poem more than meter.

Hardy generates clear, cruel imagery in the readers mind when describing the ship’s rotting, cold carcass that lies on the bottom of the sea. Of particular note is the following passage:

______Over the mirrors meant
______To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls-grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.

Thomas Hardy’s examination of the R.M.S. Titanic demonstrates the effectiveness of carefully structured verse in transporting a reader directly to a different time and place.

Pumpkin's Last Day (Original Composition)

I needed a few more pages of poetry for class, and decided that I would write a song to fulfill the requirement. The song discusses a pumpkin's journey to your pie crust from his own perspective. Lyrics are listed below the media player I apologize for the following:

• The vocals - I'm not a singer (and I had the hardest time getting the microphone not to clip during the second part
• The over-indulgent use of distorted guitar - I bought a new toy and wanted to play around :)

So without further ado, Pumpkin's Last Day:



Lyrics:

(Part 1)
Chilly air
Blows beneath the covers of the changing of the colors
I am sitting here
On soil where my family's graves have paved the way
For me

Trampling feet
Of children and their mothers and their oversized grey shovels
It's me they'll eat
I will die inside their ovens, my fate is sealed in morning muffins.

Pies, herbivorous demise.
My goodbye

Groceries,
Placed upon the counter, they share my final hour
Soon my seeds,
Roasted then devoured, they'll never plant and flower.

Pies, herbivorous demise.
My goodbye

(Part 2)

Bake me!
Scald me!
Melt my skin!
Rape me!
Scar me!
Scrape my insides out!