Steel chambers, late the pyres / Of her salamandrine fires / cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres
-- Speaker (Lines 4 – 6)

Importance: This quote, comprising the whole of stanza two, is valuable if only because of its great linguistic complexity. The speaker uses contrasting imagery to describe the Titanic's fiery ("salamandrine") engine rooms once they are overtaken ("thrid") and extinguished by cold ocean currents. The combination of these obverse elements – fire and water, artifice and nature – underscore the poem's investment in duality. The "rhythmic lyres" of line six balefully 'sing' (or perform) the tragedy that took place far above, on the surface.

Jewels in joy designed... / Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared
-- Speaker (Lines 10 – 12)

Importance: This excerpt from stanza four gets to the heart of Hardy's overarching message: pretensions to opulence and glamour matter for nothing in the face of destiny's careless twists and turns. The jewelers who crafted their wares so "joyfully" did not plan on...