Summary

Every one of the poem's eleven sections paints a distinct and symbolic image. Stanza one orients the reader within the context of the Titanic disaster. It describes a deep, yawning ocean in which the ship's remains are preserved as in a watery mausoleum. Stanza two picks up on this theme, drawing the paradoxical picture of once "salamandrine" engine rooms that are now criss-crossed by freezing "cold currents" (5-6). Moving to another section of the sunken ship, stanza three considers the gilded mirrors designed for stately bedrooms, dining rooms, and salons. At the bottom of the ocean, they reflect only the gross and "indifferent" "sea worm" that crawls across their surfaces (9). A similar motif is explored in the next section, as we read about “ravishing” jewels fated to lie, unobserved and unappreciated, among the wreckage (11). By stanza five, we reach the poem’s turning point...