"Diving into the Wreck"

List of images:
book
camera
knife
black rubber
flippers
"awkward mask"
sun
ladder
blue light
insect
ocean
fans
reefs
wreck
"ribs of disaster"
mermaid & merman
open eyes
instruments

Analysis:

The images of the camera and the book of myths in Rich's poem "Diving into the Wreck," offer an insight into the poem's meaning by their similar connotations. Both the camera and the book offer ways of capturing history. In the last stanza, Rich explains how although we are not always the ones having our stories retold in books or our moments captured through film, we are all part of history, "We are, I am, you are." By diving into the ocean to seek the wreck, Rich not only becomes one with the tragedy of the wreck, but also with it’s history. The deeper he dives, the darker the water becomes and the more entwined him and the myths become. Soon he is lost in what is real and what is myth and becomes distracted from his original purpose to “discover the wreck.” He becomes the stories and the disaster, saying “we are the half-destroyed instruments that once held to a course.” This portrays how Rich has become so enthralled in the myths of the sea that he has strayed from his initial itinerary.

Although this all aids in the interpretation of the poem, the strongest imagery is overwhelmingly the color change of the water from blue to bluer, green and eventually to black. The sharp color changes are incredibly striking and cause you to question the meaning behind this imagery. The color blue has a tendency to represent serenity, which is the initial stage of Rich entering the ocean, until it turns a shade of green. The change to green primarily seems to serve as a flag for the change that will shortly occur: the sudden onset of blackness. The black imagery portrays a strong sense of fear and danger. The fear of the blackness and the unknown are overwhelming. The immense amount of fear in the poem will be faced with either “cowardice or courage” and in the end only one will overcome it to return to the scene of the wreck “carrying a knife, a camera a book of myths in which our names do appear.”