The Convergence of the Twain - Tone (Question 8)

"And as the smart ship grew / In stature, grace, and hue, / In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too." (lines 22-24)

       This line most effectively captures the tone of the poem because it embodies the sense of awe and wonder that saturates the the first two lines of most of the stanzas. It is also simultaneously addressing the premonition that is emanating from the line "The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything" through the end of the poem. "The Convergence of the Twain" is formatted so that each stanza includes a bit of awe and a bit of pretense about the future. In the line I quoted above, the ship is praised as being one of stellar quality and unmatched power with words such as "smart" and "stature, grace, and hue." However, these middle three words also address the iceberg. It is just as strong and stealthy, but it wins out in the end. The juxtaposition of these two brute forces is not only a literary triumph, but it is also the transitional point in the poem when Hardy moves away from a tone of awe into one of foreboding premonition.