Diving into the Wreck

Adrienne Rich Reading "Diving into the Wreck"

In Rich’s book Diving into the Wreck there was also a poem titled “Diving into the Wreck.”  The poem illustrates a quest to rewrite the cultural understanding of gender.  The poem seems to be describing a diver examining what they have only known as a myth.  Yet, half of the poem is devoted to the steps the diver takes in order to get close to the wreck, rather than actually seeing the wreck.  Alice Templeton wrote, “the poem’s attention to the process of exploring the wreck and not the analysis of the wreck.”  This analysis is about the routine of the diver in order to reach the objective.  Further in the poem Rich writes, “I am she: I am he” (77). This makes the speaker androgynous and puts both sexes at the same level, as if differences were non-existent.  More broadly, Margret Atwood writes, “This quest- the quest for something beyond myths, for the truths about men and women, about the ‘I’ and the ‘You,’ the He and the She or more generally . . . about the powerless and the powerful.”  She suggests that the objective of the poem, and other’s in the collection, are about finding the actualities of gender differences rather than what has been discerned in the past.  Instead of letting society and culture decide the differences, or lack of differences, the diver takes it upon themselves to find the certainties and to describe the process in how they will go about this. This personal responsibility for cultural issues is shown when the speaker states, “the thing I came for: / the wreck and not the story of the wreck / the thing itself and not the myth” (62-64).  Rich has taken the idea of a quest and applied it to the connotations surrounding gender.  Rich wanted to take the idea of gender and equalize the differences.

Rich, Adrienne Cecile. “Diving into the Wreck,” Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972. Norton &  Company, 1973.

From Modern American Poetry Website, Templeton, Alice. The Dream and the Dialogue:             Adrienne Rich’s Feminist Poetics. Copyright @ 1994 by the University of Tennessee Press.

From Modern American Poetry Website, Atwood, Margaret. The New York Times Book Review (1973).

Modern American Poetry Critique

When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-vision

In 1971 Rich wrote “When We Dead Awaken” exploring the idea that literature is as constrained for females as every other facet of life.  Rich analyzes past literary works and identifies that there is a constant among female writes.  When analyzing the works of Sylvia Plath and Diane Wakoski she writes, “It strikes me that in the work of both Man appears as, if not a dream, a fascination and a terror; and that the source of the fascination and the terror is, simply, Man’s power-to dominate, tyrannize, choose, or reject the woman” (348).  This power of man over woman is something that Rich finds in some of her earlier work as well.  Rich states that she was taught to write poetry so it pertained to everyone, which meant not to women (351).  Rich writes, “I hadn't found the courage yet to do without authorities, or even to use the pronoun “I” – woman in the poem is always “she” (357).  While using the pronoun “she” Rich was trying her best to set a distance between herself and the subject of her poems to ensure that her work could pertain to many. She attributes the liberation of women in the arts to the second wave of feminists. 

Adrienne, Rich Cecile. “When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-vision.” Claims for Poetry. Ed Donald Hall.  Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1982.

The Expected Life

Despite Rich’s view of marriage as a constraint, she married a Harvard professor of economics, Alfred Conrad, in 1953.  Starting when Rich was 24 years old the couple had three boys together all within the span of four years.  Rich was living the expected life a housewife and mother. 

In 1963 Rich published the book Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law: Poems 1954-1962, published ten years after her marriage.  Rich presents ideas of the power awakening through her own sexuality and the constraints imposed by society holding back this sexuality of females.  One example is of the poem “Snapshots.”  Rich creeps out of the cave of ignorance to find courage in her female form by writing, “. . . a woman, partly brave and partly good. . .” (73).  Rich is finding that her feminine strength does not quite fit into the constructed role assigned for women.  Secondly, Rich addresses her distaste for the labels that women are given if they astray from the expectations of society.  She writes, “. . . hence she was labeled harpy, shrew and whore” (76).  Due to the speaker's inability to squeeze into designated roles she is given negatively charged labels. Through Rich’s poems, spanning over the 10 years of her marriage, she starts to feel uncomfortable in her role as the typical woman.

Adrienne, Rich Cecile. "Snapshots." Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law: Poems 1954-1962, Norton & Company Inc. 1963.  

Just a Glimpse

Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore Maryland to parents who were adamant about the arts and Rich's involvement.  With the urging of her father Rich excelled academically and eventually attended Radcliffe College.  It was in her last year, at the age of 21; Rich published her first work, A Change of World (1951).  For this work Rich received the Yale Series of Younger Poets award, setting off her career as a poet and essayist. 

In Rich’s first work, A Change of World, there is preface which gives a glimpse into the type of poet Rich will become.  One poem in particular, “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”, Rich shows her disgusted reaction to the impression she gets from the restraining bonds of marriage.  She illustrates this detest in the line, “The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding band” (7).  The ring that her aunt wears is an immense weight that restricts her aunt.  Similarly, Rich suggests that the ring also represents the controlling nature of marriage when she writes, “Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by” (10).  Rich suggests that through the experiences of marriage her aunt was restrained.  This cynical perception of marriage is only a prelude to the work that Rich will produce later in her career when she advocates for feminism.    

Rich, Adrienne Cecile.  “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers.” A Change of World. Yale University Press, 1951.