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Study Guide
Bibliography
Course Hero. "The Convergence of the Twain Study Guide." Course Hero. 1 Nov. 2019. Web. 27 Jan. 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Convergence-of-the-Twain/>.
In text
(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2019, November 1). The Convergence of the Twain Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Convergence-of-the-Twain/
In text
(Course Hero, 2019)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "The Convergence of the Twain Study Guide." November 1, 2019. Accessed January 27, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Convergence-of-the-Twain/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "The Convergence of the Twain Study Guide," November 1, 2019, accessed January 27, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/The-Convergence-of-the-Twain/.
Thomas Hardy
1912
Poem
Drama, History, Tragedy
"The Convergence of the Twain" is poet Thomas Hardy's (1840–1928) response to the tragic sinking (1912) of a famous ocean liner, the RMS Titanic. Unlike many other literary treatments of this event, Hardy's poem describes the ship and its fate dispassionately, without mentioning the approximately 1,500 people who died on board.
The first five stanzas of "The Convergence of the Twain" use the present tense to describe the wreck of the Titanic lying underwater. Most of the remaining six stanzas use the past tense to describe how an emotionally distant deity or force created an iceberg and then led the ship to its destruction. The final line returns to the present tense and describes the moment the ship contacts the iceberg.
The word convergence conveys the idea of coming together, and twain is an archaic word meaning "two." The title "The Convergence of the Twain" describes the coming together of two disparate objects: a luxury ocean liner and the iceberg that destroys it.
This study guide for Thomas Hardy's The Convergence of the Twain offers summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
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