"The Convergence of the Twain" - Thomas Hardy

I really liked this poem because it had allusions to the "Titanic" throughout. First of all, writing a poem about the Titanic is highly relatable because a vast majority of people have seen the movie or at least are familiar with the history, including myself, so it was easy to understand. :) Secondly, the central purpose of this poem, as well as the theme, is revealed in line 15: "And query: 'What does this vaingloriousness down here?'...." I find this theme also a bit ironic because it's pointing out how everyone thought this magnificent, glamorous ship could never sink, but it happened anyways.

Hardy also references a higher power in lines 18-21 when he says, "The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything prepared  sinister mate for her--so gaily great--a Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate." It makes it seem as though God planned the demise of this vessel as well as the passengers aboard, which is contrary to what most people think of God's temperament towards humanity. Maybe that is the author's way of proving the theme of our vanity as humans and belief that we are most important. By showing, through situational irony, that God premeditated this event, and that one of our biggest, best creations was taken in one fell swoop by an outside party, the author urges our insignificance, thus revealing the poem's main idea.