Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Perilous Quest for Truth

One of the poem’s major themes relates to the perilous quest for truth. When the speaker embarks on their underwater journey, it isn’t simply to locate the remnants of a lost ship. They also want to get close and examine the wreckage first-hand, for it is only through such direct observation that they’ll be able to determine what really happened. In turn, it’s only by determining what really happened that the speaker will be able distinguish between what is and isn’t true in the “book of myths” that they reference throughout the poem. Yet as the difficult nature of their descent suggests, this quest for truth is perilous indeed. Challenges arise as soon as the speaker begins climbing down the boat ladder: “My flippers cripple me” (line 29). As the speaker plunges into the ocean and begins their descent, the increasing water pressure makes the speaker feel like they’re “blacking out” (line 36). They must also learn how to maneuver in this dark and alien environment. These challenges stress the speaker, making it “easy to forget / what I came for” (lines 44–45). Eventually, though, they remember their mission and proceed bravely in their quest for the truth of the wreck.

The Wreckage of History

Once the speaker reaches the ocean floor, they begin to explore the wreckage of an old ship. Although we can read the shipwreck as the literal remnants of a sunken ship, on a more figurative level these remnants also symbolize the wreckage of history. In this case, the term history can take on different meanings. For instance, it could refer to an individual’s personal history, in which case “the wreckage of history” might refer to a particular experience in a person’s life. The speaker makes it very clear that they are all alone on their underwater journey. Not only do they have to don their diving gear alone, but once they’re in the water they must also “learn alone” (line 41) to navigate “in the deep element” (line 43). Making a solo journey in this way may suggest that the speaker’s goal is to examine a traumatic moment of “wreckage” from their own past. Alternatively, “the wreckage of history” could have a wider meaning. For example, it could refer to a larger event of destruction that affects a whole society. It could also refer to the way a particular community of people has been historically overlooked, mistreated, or left behind. Because of Rich’s commitment to feminism, this community of people could be women struggling for their liberation, which is a common critical interpretation of this poem.

The Ambiguous Power of Storytelling

In the seventh stanza, the speaker announces the purpose of their mission: they’re seeking out “the wreck and not the story of the wreck / the thing itself and not the myth” (lines 62–63). The speaker’s desire to avoid “the story of the wreck” indicates a key theme in the poem, which relates to the ambiguous power of storytelling. The speaker suggests this ambiguity in their repeated references to a “book of myths.” Myths are stories about how the world came to be the way it is. But such stories don’t simply describe the world; they also shape how members of a particular society perceive and think about the world. For instance, the Book of Genesis contains a foundational story that attributes responsibility for Original Sin to the first woman, Eve. This story has contributed to centuries of misogyny among those who see all women as manifestations of Eve. Yet stories also have the power to reshape the world in healing ways. Indeed, “Diving into the Wreck” could be read as the speaker’s own attempt to tell a revisionist story about the wreck that corrects the erroneous account in the book of myths.