Diving into the Wreck (1973) by Adrienne Rich | Summary and Analysis
Adrienne Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck” (1973) is one of her most famous and complex poems. The poem uses the metaphor of a deep-sea dive to explore truth, history, and identity. The “wreck” represents the ruins of past myths, stories, and systems (often patriarchal) that have shaped our understanding of gender, society, and self. The speaker undertakes a solitary journey to confront the wreck—not to glorify or romanticize it, but to see it as it really is. It’s about searching beneath surface appearances to uncover hidden truths, reclaiming lost histories, and reshaping one’s identity. _______________________________________________ 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 am having 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 the...