Diving into the Wreck

Rich employs short, enjambed lines over the course of “Diving into the Wreck,” creating a sense of forward motion and inevitability. Her lines are purposeful in their craft; keeping them short creates emphasis on particular images she wants to highlight, and enjambing them over multiple lines propels the reader forward, seeking to discover how Rich will resolve the tension.

Free verse also allows Rich to mimic the mindset of both her speaker and her exploratory process. The speaker, at times, is muddled and confused as she dives into the water, and Rich’s swiftly moving lines highlight this sensation. In the fourth stanza, she writes “First the air is blue and then / it is bluer and then green and then / black I am blacking out and yet / my mask is powerful / it pumps my blood with power” (Lines 34-38). Crafting the lines in this way, Rich mirrors the onslaught of the water and panic the speaker feels, and her lack of punctuation emphasizes the confusion.

Over the course of the poem, Rich utilizes simile and metaphor to emphasize the power, vulnerability, and possibility of her speaker’s experience.