Diving into the Wreck Summary

“Diving into the Wreck” is a ten-stanza poem written in free verse with heavy enjambment. The poem’s speaker narrates her exploration of a shipwreck, which can be viewed as a metaphor for history. Her goal in exploring the shipwreck is to find out the “truth” rather than the stories she has been told and the predominant cultural myths. The poem thus focuses on the female artist’s responsibility to honestly survey history and its damaging effects.