This poem, through the vessel of The Titanic, attempts to portray the destruction of human vanity. In the first few stanzas, the ship is described as an opulent entity with "Jewels in joy designed/To ravish the sensuous mind." Yet now the boat, this embodiment of human achievement which was "unsinkable" not sits at the bottom of the ocean with "grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent" sea-worms and "Dim moon-eyed fishes" which have no capacity for appreciating its beauty. In the final stanzas, the juxtaposition of the iceberg and the ship come into play. The iceberg and the ship "grow" over time together, at the same pace, each being the other's enemy. Then a greater being, ("Immanent Will, Spinner of the Years") wishing to stick it to humanity's "vaingloriousness" (which is the best word in the poem) "Said 'Now!'" and the two collided. Obviously the iceberg won.
Hmm, who would win in a fight, a boat or an iceberg? I'm just wracked with indecision.
I think the iceberg is vainglorious. Take that.
ReplyDeleteI will so take it.
ReplyDelete