Adrienne Rich's poem "Diving into the Wreck"

Adrienne Rich's poem "Diving into the Wreck" is about the poet's quest for freedom from her past, including lies she has been fed from society and history, including relationships with men, and especially including her own self-deception about who she is as a human being.

"First having read the book of myths" is the poet's summarization of all that history and books and experts and authorities have told her about life. She has read it, but she knows it is full of "myths," or interpretations of life which one must explore for oneself to test their authenticity and accuracy.

The loading of the camera refers to her preparation as she dives into the wreck of her life, a life which has been destroyed by others' lies and by her own acceptance of those lies. Now, however, she is setting out courageously and realistically to see what the truth is.

She checks the knife for sharpness, indicating that she is prepared this time, unlike in the past, to fight and kill the lies she faces, and/or to cut herself free from any entanglements which might try to drown her in those lies.

The outfit she dons to dive is black, unwieldy, and grave. She is encumbered by the outfit at the same time that she needs it to survive. In appearance, she is a kind of a monster as she dives, but she does not care any longer how she looks. She cares only about fulfilling her mission, finding her freedom from the past, and assessing what is left of herself and her life as she ventures into a liberated future

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She recognizes that one cannot enter such a world without a strong identity, but she also knows that she cannot have a true identity before she descends into that world, does what she needs to do, and emerges a new woman from that darkness. Thus, she puts on the "powerful" mask which "pumps my blood with power." She is pretending to be strong in order to truly become strong. Again, she emphasizes the essentially aloneness of this quest for liberation: I have to learn alone to turn my body without force in the deep element. She is already wise enough to recognize that the realm of truth, of true knowledge and identity, is not one which takes kindly to being pushed around or roughed up. One cannot push the ocean anymore than one can push the river. In any case, the poet is the ocean, again, and it is clear that pushing oneself is no way to discover the truth when one is surrounded by it on all sides. Now she recognizes that she is not alone, that there are others there who might distract from the purpose at hand. These others are present, but their help cannot be trusted. They have their own agendas. They have been there long, and she has just arrived. They are more a chorus, or audience, than allies or enemies. They are al

Category: Literature - A