Analysis of Diving Into the Wreck
Analysis of Diving Into the Wreck
There are many poems in today’s literature that are detailed and paint a picture for the reader. A poem that really stands out is Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich. Rich is a well known poet born 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland (Milne). She is a very influential poet in the subjects of feminism and the rights of women. Rich’s literary work was released in the early 1970’s which was a trivial and controversial time in the rights of women. Her poem, Diving Into the Wreck is descriptive and at first glance it seems like many basic poems one may read. However, with some intensive reading one realizes that there is more to this work of literary art than meets the eye. An accurate theoretical meaning of this poem would be related to women’s rights during this time. Rich uses imagery, symbols, figures of speech, writer’s persona and most of all, allusion to describe this. Rich begins the poem with a description of her putting on a scuba diving suit and preparing for a sort of “dive” into an imaginary ocean. She is using imagery to paint a figurative picture of a diving mission. When one dives in the ocean with a scuba diving suit, they do so to uncover or discover something that is convoluted or unclear. One can assume that, taking into account Rich’s ideals on feminism that she is speaking of preparing herself for a “mission”. From the first line to the twelfth, it is unclear what exactly she is preparing to do.
Rich goes on speaking of a ladder hanging off of the boat she is about to dive off of. A ladder on a boat is used to recover someone from the ocean or to get back on the boat. In a figurative sense, this is a description of giving up or recovering yourself from a task.
In lines twenty through forty-five, Rich continues describing the dive by speaking about climbing down the ladder and into the ocean. She symbolizes the ladder as climbing into a task. She uses allusion in line twenty-nine she says
There are many poems in today’s literature that are detailed and paint a picture for the reader. A poem that really stands out is Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich. Rich is a well known poet born 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland (Milne). She is a very influential poet in the subjects of feminism and the rights of women. Rich’s literary work was released in the early 1970’s which was a trivial and controversial time in the rights of women. Her poem, Diving Into the Wreck is descriptive and at first glance it seems like many basic poems one may read. However, with some intensive reading one realizes that there is more to this work of literary art than meets the eye. An accurate theoretical meaning of this poem would be related to women’s rights during this time. Rich uses imagery, symbols, figures of speech, writer’s persona and most of all, allusion to describe this. Rich begins the poem with a description of her putting on a scuba diving suit and preparing for a sort of “dive” into an imaginary ocean. She is using imagery to paint a figurative picture of a diving mission. When one dives in the ocean with a scuba diving suit, they do so to uncover or discover something that is convoluted or unclear. One can assume that, taking into account Rich’s ideals on feminism that she is speaking of preparing herself for a “mission”. From the first line to the twelfth, it is unclear what exactly she is preparing to do.
Rich goes on speaking of a ladder hanging off of the boat she is about to dive off of. A ladder on a boat is used to recover someone from the ocean or to get back on the boat. In a figurative sense, this is a description of giving up or recovering yourself from a task.
In lines twenty through forty-five, Rich continues describing the dive by speaking about climbing down the ladder and into the ocean. She symbolizes the ladder as climbing into a task. She uses allusion in line twenty-nine she says
Cited: “Overview: ‘Diving into the Wreck’.” Poetry for Students. Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Sep. 2011.