"Diving into the Wreck" was written by the American poet Adrienne Rich and first published in a collection of the same name in 1973. The poem opens as the speaker prepares for a deep-sea dive and then follows the speaker's exploration of a shipwreck. Rich was a leading feminist poet, and many critical interpretations view the poem as an extended metaphor relating to the struggle for women's rights and liberation. That said, the poem is rich with symbolism related to a variety of subjects, and its reading doesn't need to be limited by Rich's biography. For example, it can also be taken as a more general exploration of personal identity and people's relationship to the past. To that end, before diving the speaker has "read the book of myths"—which perhaps represents the established ideas, norms, and stories about the wreck (and, metaphorically speaking, about the speaker and/or society at large)—and insists on instead gaining direct experience of the wreck by making the dive. The poem thus also becomes a kind of call for venturing into the perilous unknown in order to find the truth.
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First having read ...
... and awkward mask.
I am having ...
... but here alone.
There is a ...
... some sundry equipment.
I go down. ...
... I go down.
My flippers cripple ...
... will begin.
First the air ...
... the deep element.
And now: it ...
... differently down here.
I came to ...
... fish or weed
the thing I ...
... not the myth
the drowned face ...
... the tentative haunters.
This is the ...
... into the hold.
I am she: ...
... left to rot
we are the ...
... the fouled compass
We are, I ...
... do not appear.
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
In the Poet's Own Voice — Adrienne Rich reads "Diving into the Wreck."
Rich in the New Yorker — An insightful analysis of Rich's poetic work from the New Yorker.
Rich's Life and Work — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation.
Plato and the Androgyne — An excerpt from Plato's discussion of the androgyne figure, which appears recurrently in Rich's poetry from around this time.
Feminism and Poetry — A wonderful selection of poems organized by their relationship to the different stages of the feminist movement.