Convergence of the Twain

"Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy uses the imagery of the titanic to describe vanity. The poem is saying that vanity is fleeting. It is not as important as what is put on it. Hardy writes "Over the mirrors meant to glass the opulent The sea-worm crawls--grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent." This shows that while in the short time, it may sometimes seem as if vanity is very important, in the end it will not matter at all. All the time and effort that was put into making the titanic look beautiful didn't end up mattering at all once it hit an iceberg. The poem also talks about fate. It says that it was the ship's fate to hit the iceberg. Hardy shows how vanity leaves so very quickly. It may seem as if it will last forever, but when, in the end, life is over, no one will care about what you look like. When your bones are decaying in the ground, suddenly no one will care what color suit you're wearing inside the casket.