ipl-logo

David R. Slavitt's The Convergence Of The T

1024 Words5 Pages

The poem “Titanic” by David R. Slavitt criticizes ___ of the Titanic. Thomas Hardy’s poem, “The Convergence of the Twain” discusses the Titanic’s beauty along with the reality of its destruction. In both poems the use of tone, use of irony, and concept of duality challenges the common view of the Titanic’s legend. The Titanic’s legacy has been built into an entertaining tale through books and movies, embellishing the tragedy into something romanticized. Both poets challenge the romantic outlook through tone. In “Titanic,” Slavitt seems to be conveying a beautiful view of the Titanic by speaking of everyone on board, well fed and surrounded by music and lights as they began to sink. However, it is quite apparent that he sees the Titanic as anything but a beautiful …show more content…

He identifies the fact that the world has not mourned the loss as it should, but rather creating stories for the future generation to enjoy that will “give them a good cry,” (Line 10 and GRAMMAR?). Sarcastically, he continues to say that the sinking is “not so bad after all” (11). For these moments in the poem, he speaks as if he is someone who has romanticized the tragedy, simply to show how absurd it is to glamorize such an event. While Slavitt uses sarcasm to object the perspective of the Titanic’s legend, Thomas Hardy uses reverence. Throughout the poem, he acknowledges the beauty of the Titanic, speaking of its “jewels in joy designed to ravish the sensuous mind” (10-11). While admiring the beauty of the ship, Hardy also accounts for the grim reality of the ship’s end with respect rather than with criticism as Slavitt did. As the ship continued its journey through the water, Hardy noted that in the distance the ship’s “sinister mate [...] so gaily great” (19-20) sat

Show More
Related

Summary Of Magnificent Isolation By Elsa Gabbert

509 Words | 3 Pages

The author starts with a tone of exhilaration and curiosity being “I suddenly obsessed with the story of the Titanic.” Slowly though she slides into a tone of slack jawed awe and morbid fascination with how “It is awesome that we built them; it is awesome when they fell.” To illustrate this she uses many tools such as facts and figures. Gabbert pulls many of her examples from historic acts of human failure like the Titanic or challenger. To further her point she uses eyewitness accounts and personal experience from these people such the North Tower man who said, “Perhaps I should have continued down that hallway.”

Read More

Literary Techniques In The Woman With Five Hearts By Stephen Dunn

539 Words | 3 Pages

This poetry essay examines the techniques used by three poets to create meaning and impact in their work. Through careful analysis of the poet's use of language, imagery, and other literary devices, it becomes easy to gain a deeper understanding of the role of poetry in people's lives and its ability to evoke emotion, paint pictures, and convey ideas.

Read More

Individualism In An Inspector Calls

2206 Words | 9 Pages

Thus allowing the audience to reflect how problematic it was. One way this is done is through Birling’s speech “the Titanic… forty six thousand eight hundred tons… unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable”. The Titanic represents the greatest technological advancement at that time frame and thus could represent the Birling family, as Mr Birling is an industrialist, and thus the middle class. The repetition of the word “unsinkable” may portray their true and ingrained belief in the Titanic and through it, themselves. The word “absolutely” may show the lack of consideration for other options and thus shows the unchanging and narrow visioned nature of those individualists such as Mr Birlings, which will be their undoing similar to how the Titanic sinks.

Read More

Night To Remember Comparison

796 Words | 4 Pages

The Titanic, most definitely man’s greatest accomplishment, is made in Belfast, Ireland, where it is then set off into the open ocean, and set for Southampton, England. From there, on April 11, 1912, 2:00 p.m., the Titanic sets sail for New York. All seems well, and it looks for the first time, that man has built the “unsinkable ship.” However, the hopes, lives, ship and all are cut down by an iceberg and now rest at the bottom of the Atlantic. This horrendous fact was shown in both the book and the movie, “A Night to Remember,” along with many other facts and stories.

Read More

Model Minority: The Positive Stereotypes Of Asian Americans

265 Words | 2 Pages

As the moderating levels of prejudice and discrimination in Asian American has slightly turns to positive stereotype. Because of their achievements in education and economy, it makes Asian American less difficult to adapt to the society. The educational and economical achievements demonstrate how Asian Americans increasingly are moving toward assimilation. Therefore, the term of model minority is labeled on Asian Americans due to the accomplishment they’ve made. It is like the “American dream” that most people viewed as, having good jobs, making good money, and getting a high education, those are the American dreams that most people would think of in mind.

Read More

Summary Of The Poem Sea Of Faith

1182 Words | 5 Pages

The author utilizes multiple metaphors in the poem to create vivid imagery in readers’ mind about the poem. Additionally, John Brehm widely utilizes nautical metaphors to bring out its intentions. For instance, the poem is entitled “the sea of faith.” The term “Sea” is used to show how deep, broad, and everlasting the act of “faith” can be.

Read More

Examples Of Dramatic Irony In An Inspector Calls

747 Words | 3 Pages

One of the several themes that Priestley has introduced to the play is ‘Time,’ and this theme not only interlinks with some others like ‘Age and Youth’ and ‘Social Responsibility,’ but also introduces a very important drama technique into the play for the audience called the dramatic irony. In Act One, Mr. Birling, as a representative of the older generation of the play and the head of the family, is talking to the others about the progress humanity is making and mentions the liner, Titanic saying it is “unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable.” The word ‘absolutely’ in this context shows just how confident in his words Mr. Birling is, without understanding that it will all change. As the play is set back in 1912, but is performed much later in 1946, after the audience knows, and finds it ironic that Mr. Birling, thinking he is an old, wise man says such nonsense, as time will show.

Read More

Analysis Of The Fire Next Time By James Baldwin

214 Words | 1 Pages

In “The Fire Next Time,” James Baldwin describes the racial injustice he has observed and experienced in America. He expresses the outrage, hopelessness, and faith that African Americans went through in the 1960’s. The first essay, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” is Baldwin’s letter to his nephew James; as somebody who has lived through America at its worst, Baldwin warns his young nephew of the trials ahead in a young black man's life. Baldwin divides the second essay, “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind,” into three parts. He first explains his life growing up in the Harlem ghetto and how he was eventually lead to the church, then continues onto the second part

Read More

And Symbolism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Ocean'

737 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the poem the tone was subtle, however, a claim was still made. Because the speaker in the poem had a calm tone, it left me feeling a sense of displacement. I didn’t know whether the author chose to write this poem because it was something he was passionate about, or if it didn’t have sufficient meaning. With Hawthorne having ancestors of seamen, his poem could have been a representation of their lives. To me, this poem was quite relatable in the sense that there can be so much commotion above the water, but once you sink down, all is at peace.

Read More

Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

1206 Words | 5 Pages

“A seat in this boat was not unlike a seat upon a bucking Broncho, and by the same token a Broncho is not much smaller. The craft pranced and reared, and plunged like an animal. As each wave came, and she rose for it” (I). Crane also uses the repetition of “drowned” lines to show the men’s internal conflict with life and death, how they struggle both physically and mentally through the ordeal, and how they start with determination of survival and how that determination

Read More

Titanic David R Slavitt Analysis

948 Words | 4 Pages

Irony is presented in numerous ways that help to contribute to the theme. The theme of death in the poem “Titanic” can be backed up and further explained by many poetry elements that are hinted to throughout the poem. David R Slavitt’s “Titanic” is about a tragedy that affected the lives of many people during the time it occurred. Slavitt uses the first stanza of his poem to ask a question to the readers: ”Who does not love the Titanic?” Most readers would answer, saying they love the story of the Titanic, but would not have liked to be on the ship for its first and, inevitably, final voyage.

Read More

What Is The Tone In The Convergence Of The Titanic

577 Words | 3 Pages

Every person sees an event through a different perspective which can lead to different interpretations of an event. “The convergence of the twain” by Thomas Hardy and “Titanic” both bring differing perspectives of the wreck of the titanic. Each poem conveys a different attitude towards the same situation; however, while one displays a more grim tone, the other establishes more of an unpitiful tone nonetheless both poems connecting to each other. “The Convergence of the Twain” gives a somber attitude towards the wreck of the Titanic. The poet uses numerous amounts of imagery language throughout the poem to help convey the mood and attitude.

Read More

Hilda Doolittle's Sea Rose

399 Words | 2 Pages

In the Victorian Age, poetry mostly focused on the domestic lifestyle of the middle class individuals. Previously, Romanticism focused on the experience of seeing the sublime in nature which was mostly a large scene being depicted for the reader. In Hilda Doolittle’s poem, “Sea Rose,” she instead focuses solely on a single rose. This was one of the Imagist ideals, to have “clear and immediate images” (2057) that give “direct treatment to the ‘thing’” (2057). The entire sixteen-line poem focuses on a rose that the speaker is viewing.

Read More

My Love For You Is So Embarrassingly Analysis

1425 Words | 6 Pages

He’s claiming his love to be the best of his time, and even though both ended in failure, they left a mark in history. When he states, “that vulnerable elephantine dream of transport, a fabric Titanic on an ocean of air?” He’s explaining how massive yet fragile love can be. He compares it to a fabric Titanic; fabric may be beautiful but it is not sturdy, it is delicate and should be handled with care. Thus, he is claiming love is not easy and not always sturdy.

Read More

American Literature: Literature Changed Over Time

1749 Words | 7 Pages

In this poem Henry Longfellow describes a seaside scene in which dawn overcomes darkness, thus relating to the rising of society after the hardships of battle. The reader can also see feelings, emotions, and imagination take priority over logic and facts. Bridging the Romantic Era and the Realism Era is the Transcendental Era. This era is unusual due to it’s overlapping of both the Romantic and Realism Era. Due to its coexistence in two eras, this division serves as a platform for authors to attempt to establish a new literary culture aside from the rest of the world.

Read More

More about David R. Slavitt's The Convergence Of The T

Related Topics

Open Document