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The tone of “Diving into the Wreck” might best be described as searching. That word may initially seem too on the nose, given the fact that the poem’s speaker literally searches the remnants of an old shipwreck. But aside from this literal search, there is also a more figurative searching quality at work in the poem. The adjective searching can refer to any careful examination of something, whether material or immaterial. An investigator can conduct a searching examination of physical evidence in their attempt to solve a crime. Likewise, a scholar can pursue a searching analysis of a concept or idea, making acute observations about a text or event in their attempt to understand a cultural or historical phenomenon. Whereas the speaker examines a physical shipwreck, we might say that the poem conducts an examination of a more abstract kind. That is, the poem examines the possibility that deeper, more fundamental truths often lie submerged beneath the popular myths that govern how we think about and perceive the world. It’s on this level that the poem’s tone may be understood as searching.

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