It does seem that all the people who were paying attention to the production of the Titanic really were excited about the ship as a superb achievement of engineering.  The "unsinkable" Titanic was surely a gilded, bright exemplar - even an idol - of man's ability to overcome the forces of nature, and to luxuriously dote upon himself.  So it was, that the sinking had a jarring impact on the minds and spirits of people.  Hardy publishes his own reaction to the event in this poem. Hardy is known to have been an agnostic.  He was a modern man who did not believe in a personal God behind the material universe.  However, he uses personal terms as he couches his reference to a guiding principle - of which he seems certain - operating behind the convergence of the ship and the iceberg.  He may have not believed in a Person operating behind the shadowy scenes, but whatever blind fate was in operation he does personify it.  Why?  We could ask, why h...