The Following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Rich, Adrienne. “Diving into the Wreck.” Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972, Norton, New York, NY, 1973, pp. 22–24.

Note that all parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

Adrienne Rich wrote “Diving into the Wreck” during a time in American history when many socio-political movements were expanding. The counterculture movement of the late 60s and early 70s had many individual socio-political groups influencing its development. The post-civil rights era was beginning, women’s liberation was in the second wave of feminism, protests continued against the Vietnam War, and many other marginalized communities organized to fight for their rights. Rich participated in many of these social movements and began to express her radical and political attitudes in her work. Corresponding with her romantic partnership with Michelle Cliff, the themes of Diving into the Wreck cannot be read without considering Rich's life as a queer person in America during this time.

Not only did Rich challenge traditional poetry with her chosen themes, but she also innovated her poems structurally using irregular line and stanza lengths, enjambment, conversational language and rhythm, and extended metaphors. The poetic form used in “Diving into the Wreck” represents the thirst for freedom that so many of the social movements of the time were seeking by breaking free of conventional molds. Building off the modernist movement in the first half of the twentieth century, Rich's work attempts to challenge not only the conventions of poetry but also the conventions of society more broadly.

The poem follows an unknown speaker diving into the ocean to search for a shipwreck. Each stanza shows the diver getting closer to the wreck as they contemplate their travels. In the end, they discover the wreck and what is left inside it. While the dominant imagery depicts a diver entering the ocean and deep diving to find a shipwreck, the poem is also an extended metaphor representing an emotional and intellectual journey for the speaker.