Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 19-21
Prepared a sinister mate
For her — so gaily great —
A Shape of Ice, for the time far and dissociate.
- That Immanent Will isn't just about stirring and urging everything that's pretty in the universe. It also has an uglier side that's prepared a "sinister mate" for the Titanic. So we see that this force has two sides to it, one that is creative and one that is destructive.
- So who is her sinister mate? The "Shape of Ice" (iceberg) that is far and dissociated with the Titanic at this time.
So we get this feeling of a kind of ominous plan in the works that's somewhat sinister, but we're not sure why. Notice too that we see Shape of Ice capitalized too, which draws further emphasis to the important role it's going to play in this infamous story, even though it's far away at this time. - We also have some more alliteration in "gaily great" that has a kind of sarcastic effect, since we recognize here that her greatness is about to face a sinister end. It kind of sounds like the speaker is saying, it may be great now, but watch what happens with history's ironic twist.