Diving into the Wreck
‘‘Diving into the Wreck,’’ by the American poet
Adrienne Rich, was first published as the title
poem in her collectionDiving into the Wreckin- The book is still in print, and the poem also
appears in the 2002Norton Anthology of Amer-
ican Literature. The early 1970s was a time when
the women’s movement was having a significant
influence on American society, and Rich’s poem
reflects her interest in feminism, taking the form
of a heroic quest. The poet/speaker presents her-
self as a deep-sea diver who plunges into the
ocean to examine the remains of an old sailing
ship. The wreck she examines has different levels
of meaning, referring to the neglected, unexa-
mined inner lives of women, or perhaps to civi-
lization itself, ruined by false ideas and
stereotypes about gender and gender roles. The
poet hopes to discard these falsehoods. ‘‘Diving
into the Wreck’’ has had a prominent place in
Rich’s oeuvre ever since its publication. It
expresses her search for the truth about women’s
lives and also represents an important landmark
in the literature of second-wave feminism.
Author Biography
One of America’s leading contemporary poets,
Adrienne Rich was born on May 16, 1929, in
Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Arnold Rich,
was a professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins
University, and her mother, Helen Jones Rich,60
ADRIENNE RICH
1973