“The Convergence of the Twain” by Thomas Hardy deals with the crashing of the Titanic, and the iceberg it crashed into. Using different poetic devices, he expounds on his own personal feelings towards the demise of the ship. With the use of imagery, personification, diction, and setting in each section, the attitude contributed from the speaker forms itself around the story of the Titanic sinking. Instead of pointing out that the ship was at fault, he focuses on how the iceberg was built over time. In his eyes, it was fate that sunk the unsinkable ship. The use of imagery in the poem gives Hardy a place to start to form his attitude toward the sinking of the Titanic. The abrasive descriptions of the objects in the poem show that Hardy has “The Convergence of the Twain” is set in the Atlantic Ocean when the Titanic sank. Setting is used to portray the feelings of isolation, despair, and danger. To start the poem the setting is described as “a solitude of the sea Deep from human vanity” which shows how isolated the Titanic was while at sea (Hardy). Also the ocean was described as being “cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres,” which describes the ocean as being cold with waves that move rhythmically (Hardey). Both these lines show the Titanic in a dangerous position, isolated from everything, including any help, and also traversing the extremely cold and unforgiving It is used throughout the poem to give as much emphasis to the building of the iceberg as there was with the building of the ship. It states that “moon-eyed fishes near. . .query: ‘What does this vaingloriousness down here?’” (Hardy 13-15). Just like there are people around the ship building it, there are animals under the sea watching the iceberg that will meet the ship form. Personifying the fish brings them up to a human level, and shows the author’s attitude toward how important the iceberg forming was, for without it the ship would not have sunk. Also, “The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything prepared a sinister mate” which was the iceberg (Hardy 18-19). This Immanent Will refers to fate, and is the author’s way of portraying how it was fate (and fate alone) that led to the sinking of the Titanic, which was deemed unsinkable. He does not feel that this incident was a engineering flaw, but simply “The Immanent Will” that cannot be changed (Hardy
The speaker characterizes the Titanic as a “creature of cleaving wing” (17) in reference to its supposed inability to be sunken. The diction of “cleaving” (17) suggests that the speaker, at the time of the Titanic’s building, believes the Titanic to be able to sever through all obstacles. However, she immediately juxtaposes it with that “Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything” which “prepared a sinister mate” (18-19). By enjambing the two lines, the speaker foreshadows the surprise of the disaster. The “sinister mate” (19) alludes to the iceberg, while the “Immanent Will” (18) alludes to nature. The diction of calling nature the “Immanent Will” implies the speaker’s reverence and nature’s power. The speaker capitalizes the W and I since the “Immanent Will” is a specific entity, and also because the speaker realizes the power of nature. An immanent will suggests nature to be like an inherent testament, which cannot be overpowered or controlled. While the speaker will characterize the ship as “smart” (22) and growing in “stature, grace, and hue” (23), the speaker never capitalizes the word “ship” or any of the references to the ship. The speaker respects the Titanic by using words with positive connotations; ironically, she shows her greater reverence towards the “Iceberg” (24)
Some of the most intriguing stories of today are about people’s adventures at sea and the thrill and treachery of living through its perilous storms and disasters. Two very popular selections about the sea and its terrors are The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and “The Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Longfellow. Comparison between the two works determines that “The Wreck of the Hesperus” tells a more powerful sea-disaster story for several different reasons. The poem is more descriptive and suspenseful than The Perfect Storm, and it also plays on a very powerful tool to captivate the reader’s emotion. These key aspects combine to give the reader something tangible that allows them to relate to the story being told and affects them strongly.
In this poem, Frost includes his fear of the ocean and exaggerates its destructive power. As Judith Saunders stated that “The first thirteen lines have depicted an ocean storm of unusual force, and through personification the poet attributes to this storm a malign purposefulness” (1). Frost provided human characteristics on the storm to help prove his point that the ocean has bad intentions and its only purpose is to hurt him. Frost does not describe the waves as a result of unfavorable weather; he explains them as having a malignant intention to destroy the world. This poem revolves around the forces of nature and could be included in the long list of nature themed poems by Robert Frost.
Mark Twain, originally born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was the sixth child of a family of eight. Born to John and Jane Clemens on November 30, 1835, Twain was born in the small town of Florida, Missouri. At the age of four, Mark Twain and his family then relocated to Hannibal in the hope of drastically improving their living conditions. He later died of heart disease in Redding, Connecticut on April 21,1910. By lineage, Twain was of Southern decent, as both of his parents' birthplaces were that of Virginia. Slaveholding in the small community of Hannibal, with only a population of 2000 at the time, provided a variety of both a rugged lifestyle mixed with southern tradition. With a lifestyle previously mentioned, these played as a major influence in his major writings, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
...voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.” The sea mimics not only Edna’s agitation, but also the sensual touch of Edna’s illicit lover, Robert. However, Chopin’s sea also has a power all its own, mysterious and dangerous. “…the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome.” (Chopin 28) The lure of water, of nature, is also echoed by Mark Twain in his classic novel, “Huckleberry Finn.” For the child, the woman in strict society, the runway slave, both Chopin and Twain suggest that water provides a passageway to another way of life, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Water is the force of nature powerful enough to break the chains from Edna’s imprisonment, from which, once awakened, Edna can never return.
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (tom Sawyer's Comrade). United States: Cherry Hill Publishing, 2012. Internet resource.
Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 under the name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens as “the sixth living child of John and Jane Clemens” in the town of Florida, Monroe County, Missouri (Cox 7). While there his father operated a general store and tried fruitlessly to create an invention to bring him riches. Therefore, before long, the store failed and John Clemens moved the family to Hannibal, Missouri which Mark Twain would make famous. Little Sam, as he was called in his younger years, was never particularly close to him family with the exception of his mother who he greatly admired and looked up to. At this time Twain five siblings, his three brothers “Orion, Benjamin, and Henry, and his [two] sisters, Pamela and Mary” (Cox 9).
Mississippi Twain tells us of a man with a dream. As imperfection has it this
He turns her from beautiful, innocent, and pure to lifeless, brown, and limp like the dead seaweed. Additionally, just like how the daughter’s body is being tossed around by the waves without anyone else’s control, the outcomes of arrogant behavior also happen without anyone’s control. Although the skipper did not intend for his daughter to die, his borderline-smug attitude ultimately ends up ruining everything about her. The imagery used here depicts what a person’s overconfidence does to the things they love and care about. In conclusion, Longfellow uses imagery of the skipper’s eyes and daughter’s hair to convey the poem’s theme to his audience.The author of “Wreck of the Hesperus”, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, uses personification, simile, and imagery to establish that the overconfidence and pride that people have leads to a wild downward spiral for that person, and for the innocent things that the person loves. This is important for people to remember because overconfidence leads to an over-inflated ego and an excessive amount of pride, which weakens people and their relationships with others. People like this find it difficult to reach out and think it’s below them to ask for help or want help.
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates several traits that are common in mankind. Among these traits are those that are listed in this essay. Through characters in the story Twain shows humanity's innate courageousness. He demonstrates that individuals many times lack the ability to reason well. Also, Twain displays the selfishness pervasive in society. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many aspects of the human race are depicted, and it is for this reason that this story has been, and will remain, a classic for the ages.
The human voyage into life is basically feeble, vulnerable, uncontrollable. Since the crew on a dangerous sea without hope are depicted as "the babes of the sea", it can be inferred that we are likely to be ignorant strangers in the universe. In addition to the danger we face, we have to also overcome the new challenges of the waves in the daily life. These waves are "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall", requiring "a new leap, and a leap." Therefore, the incessant troubles arising from human conditions often bring about unpredictable crises as "shipwrecks are apropos of nothing." The tiny "open boat", which characters desperately cling to, signifies the weak, helpless, and vulnerable conditions of human life since it is deprived of other protection due to the shipwreck. The "open boat" also accentuates the "open suggestion of hopelessness" amid the wild waves of life. The crew of the boat perceive their precarious fate as "preposterous" and "absurd" so much so that they can feel the "tragic" aspect and "coldness of the water." At this point, the question of why they are forced to be "dragged away" and to "nibble the sacred cheese of life" raises a meaningful issue over life itself. This pessimistic view of life reflects the helpless human condition as well as the limitation of human life.
As this passage commences, Chopin, through Edna’s thoughts, describes the seemingly endless sea that presents itself before her. Edna, through personification, shows the intimacy of her relationship with both nature and the sea. This large, “[…] never ceasing […]” (Chopin 139) body of water has entranced and enthralled Edna to the point where she is now beginning to see this natural element that amazes her so much as the only option left to her in life. Chopin reveals these intentions to the reader by describing the sea as “[…] inviting the soul to wander in the abyss of solitude” (Chopin 139). The word abyss in itself leaves the reader the impression of a mysterious place in which one might not return from; and it is later implied that Edna accepts this sensuous invitation from the sea.
The story’s theme is related to the reader by the use of color imagery, cynicism, human brotherhood, and the terrible beauty and savagery of nature. The symbols used to impart this theme to the reader and range from the obvious to the subtle. The obvious symbols include the time from the sinking to arrival on shore as a voyage of self-discovery, the four survivors in the dinghy as a microcosm of society, the shark as nature’s random destroyer of life, the sky personified as mysterious and unfathomable and the sea as mundane and easily comprehended by humans. The more subtle symbols include the cigars as representative of the crew and survivors, the oiler as the required sacrifice to nature’s indifference, and the dying legionnaire as an example of how to face death for the correspondent.
There are many quotes to describe a classical American author, but Ulysses S. Grant describes one particular true American author as “. . . the simple soldier, who, all untaught of the silken phrase markers, linked words together with an art surpassing the art of schools and into them put a something which will bring American ears, as long as America shall last, the roll of his vanished drums and the thread of his marching hosts.” (American Experience, Grant’s Memoirs) Mark Twain is this simple soldier who is a true American author who expressed America with his writings. He fought for America in his writings as he did when he fought in the Civil War; the realistic literary time period. And his travels around the nation and life-changing experiences influenced him to write for the American readers to imagine what he viewed. Twain is a true American author due to his life events that influenced him to share with his beloved readers.
Mark Twain’s The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is one of the most classic American Literature Book. It consists of historical backgrounds, universality, and timelessness. But one of the most outstanding chapters of the book is chapter 27 and 28.In the two chapters, Twain’s use of the literary device – Characterization builds the character of Huckleberry Finn and show the different aspects of his character.