Poetry Analysis Essay on "Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich

Introduction

Adrienne Rich is one of the most renowned poets of the 20th century. She is known for spearheading the feminist movement using her poems in which she advocated for equal rights. Adrienne is responsible for bringing the issue of female oppression and the plight of lesbians to the forefront of poetry. Diving into the Wreck is one of those poems that Rich wrote while at the prime of her career. Diving into the Wreck is a collection of angry poems that won Rich the National Book Award for poetry in 1974. She refused to receive the award by herself, and two other feminists joined her to receive the award on behalf of other women.

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Diving into the Wreck is one of Adrienne Rich's masterworks. The poem is part of her seventh volume of poetry in which she seeks to reclaim what got destroyed. The book was published in 1973 and received a positive reception from the lovers of poetry. The poet succumbed to rheumatoid arthritis in 2012 in her California home. Despite her passing, her poems continue to give women the courage to speak out against injustices.

The poem speaks about isolation. From the start, the poem gives the reader the idea that the author is alone but somehow connected to the rest of society. In the poem, the reader comes across the phrase, "I am having to do this not like Cousteau with his assiduous team aboard the sun-flooded schooner but here alone" (8-12). That quote exemplifies the authors feeling of having to go about her exploration journey by herself but she is not the only one. The lonely tone continues to diminish as the poem progresses (Rich par.1-9). In the second stanza of the poem, the reader comes across the lines, "We know what it is for, we who have used it" (18-19). At that point, the author was describing the "ladder" that is always there hanging by the schooner. That is the first time the reader comes across the use of the word "we." That shows that the author was not alone after all. Further down the poem, the author says," We are, I am, you are by cowardice or courage the one who find our way back to this scene"(96-99). That quote is in the last stanza of the poem, which shows that the author found other people like her. Probably a community to help her with her quest. The poem speaks about emotional conflict as the author tries to find her identity in a bid to try to carve out her place in the world.

Significance of the Poem

The main message of the poem is that it helps address emotional conflict. The main topic of the poem is diving which carries some level of symbolism. The author compares herself to a diver. At first, it appears the author is diving alone, but it soon becomes apparent that there are other people as well. I think the author chose diving because it carries the common sense of isolation that all divers share. All those who made the journey are out of touch with the rest of the world.

The poem is significant because it speaks about minority groups who suffer social injustices (Poetry Foundation par.2). The introduction has indicated that the author was a big supporter of the feminist movement and lesbian rights. The feminist movement had gained momentum in the 1970s when the Adrienne wrote Diving into the Wreck. It is about finding oneself in a society that has wrecked the female gender and isolated the lesbians from the world.

As the poem begins, the author can sense some sad and detached tone from the author. Once again, if one revisits the quote," I am having to do this not like Cousteau with his assiduous team aboard the sun-flooded schooner but here alone"(9-13). The quote gets the reader in a sad mood as the author prepares to dive. Despite the sad tone of the stanza, the author seems to remain motivated enough to leap in an attempt to search the wreck. That is why she undertakes the journey even though she is alone. As the poem concludes, the tone changes from sad to hopeful. The author seems to be warming up to the idea of finding other divers determined to search the "wreck." The sad tone gives way to a more determined voice that embraces her group of divers and comes together to form a community (Barkat par.5). This part of the poem is significant in motivating other women and lesbians looking to find their identity in the world. It is also a stark reminder to those who feel isolated that at any given point there are other people somewhere in the world if not the same place who are facing similar challenges and working towards achieving the same results. In any case, a person should never feel they are alone whatever challenge they are facing.

Poem

Diving into the Wreck

By Adrienne Rich

First having read the book of myths,

and loaded the camera,

and checked the edge of the knife-blade,

I put on

the body-armor of black rubber

the absurd flippers

the grave and awkward mask.

I have to do this

not like Cousteau with his

assiduous team

aboard the sun-flooded schooner

but here alone.

There is a ladder.

The ladder is always there

hanging innocently

close to the side of the schooner.

We know what it is for,

we who have used it.

Otherwise

it is a piece of maritime floss

some sundry equipment.

I go down.

Rung after rung and still

the oxygen immerses me

the blue light

the clear atoms

of our human air.

I go down.

My flippers cripple me,

I crawl like an insect down the ladder

and there is no one

to tell me when the ocean

will begin.

First, the air is blue and then

it is bluer and then green and then

black I am blacking out and yet

my mask is powerful

it pumps my blood with the power

the sea is another story

the sea is not a question of power

I have to learn alone

to turn my body without force

in the deep element.

And now: it is easy to forget

what I came for

among so many who have always

lived here

swaying their crenelated fans

between the reefs

and besides

you breathe differently down here.

I came to explore the wreck.

The words are purposes.

The words are maps.

I came to see the damage that was done

and the treasures that prevail.

I stroke the beam of my lamp

slowly along the flank

of something more permanent

than fish or weed

the thing I came for:

the wreck and not the story of the wreck

the thing itself and not the myth

the drowned face always staring

toward the sun

the evidence of damage

worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty

the ribs of the disaster

curving their assertion

among the tentative haunters.

This is the place.

And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair

streams black, the merman in his armored body.

We circle silently

about the wreck

we dive into the hold.

I am she: I am he

whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes

whose breasts still bear the stress

whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies

obscurely inside barrels

half-wedged and left to rot

we are the half-destroyed instruments

that once held to a course

the water-eaten log

the fouled compass

We are, I am, you are

by cowardice or courage

the one who find our way

back to this scene

carrying a knife, a camera

a book of myths

in which

our names do not appear.

Works Cited

Barkat, Sara. Diving into the Wreck Poem Analysis. 22 February 2014. Website. 2 December 2018. <https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2014/02/22/poem-analysis-adrienne-richs-diving-wreck/>.

Poetry Foundation. Adrienne Rich. 2012. Website. 2 December 2018. <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/adrienne-rich>.

Rich, Adrienne. Diving into the Wreck. 1973. Website. 2 December 2018. <https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/diving-wreck>.