Adrienne Rich - Diving into the Wreck
List of Images
-The Book of Myths -mermaid
-The Ladder -camera
-Knife
-water/ocean
-the wreck
-his wetsuit
In Adrienne Rich's Diving into the Wreck, there are countless images throughout each stanza. Even with all of these images, there are three images that work coherently with each other: the ladder, the ocean and the wreck. Unlike the other images, the ladder has a whole stanza to itself which means there must be a lot of meaning to it. When looking at a ladder, its main purpose is to help us move up or down from tall objects. Looking at the use of the ladder in this poem, it is stated it “always there hanging innocently”. When ladders aren’t being used, they are just there sitting there “innocently” and you over look it. In the diver’s case, it is waiting there for for him so it can take him into a different world then his own and that world is the ocean. The ocean is big, scary, and mysterious to the diver. From above the ocean, one doesn’t know what is beneath. A world of surprises can await anyone. For the diver, the ocean is a mystery and is strange to him. The diver has to adjust to this new world and has to learn how to move in this vast world. The ocean keeps sinking the diver farther and farther down like its devouring him. The diver gradually gets lost into it and forgets his purpose. The diver realizes what happens to him and remembers his purpose: go to the wreck. The wreck is in the title of this poem and what the diver is trying to find. When looking at the wreck in a literal sense, it is an actual object that holds a ton of meaning to it. The wreck symbolizes the lost lives of countless people and all the disasters that have happened out in the sea. The mention of “ribs” gives it an even more human like feel. These three images are huge throughout the poem. The ladder transports the diver into the ocean. The ocean transports the diver to the wreck and the wreck shows us all what disasters bring to the world.
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