imagery assignment

Imagery assignment

Diving into the Wreck-lots of scuba imagery, blue skies, wetsuit, snorkel, breathing apparatus, nervous guy about to go diving, awkward movement outside of the water, but graceful when in, various sea life, corpses underwater

In the poem Diving into the Wreck, by Adrienne Rich, uses a lot of scuba/marine imagery.  I am a certified scuba diver, so my interpretation of the imagery may be clearer or more skewed because of this.  When analyzing the imagery present in this poem two parts of it jumped out: the predive above water and the actual dive.  The imagery when the diver is above water gives me the feeling that the diver is uncomfortable.  The scuba diving equipment is described as awkward and absurd.  The speaker also says how difficult a simple task like climbing down a ladder becomes once all the gear is on, how his flippers cripple him as he climbs down.  However, once the diver gets into the water and starts the dive, I feel like he/she starts to become more comfortable the deeper the diver goes.  The speaker does not talk about how scary the descent into the darkness is, but rather focuses on how the the "mask is powerful, it pumps my blood with power".  The device that was described as awkward above water is now described as powerful below the water.  Using this interpretation of the imagery, I think the poem is about the comfort zones of certain people.  Many people are afraid of the dark, or are afraid of swimming in the open ocean.  They feel much more secure with their feet firmly planted on the ground.  However, I feel like the diver is much more comfortable in the water than he/she is on land.  While submerged in darkness with only his knife, flashlight, and book of myths he feels more at home than when enjoying the light of day on a boat in the middle of the sea.  Perhaps the author is writing to convey a message that people are different, or that one persons comfort zone can be drastically different from the social norm.  While this may not be true for the entire poem, I feel that, for this set of imagery, the interpretation fits pretty well.