The water in “Diving into the Wreck” has been interpreted a myriad of ways by critics and scholars. Nancy writes, “in 'Diving into the Wreck' [Rich] enters more deeply than ever before into female fantasy; and these are primal waters, life-giving and secretive.” Others have viewed the speaker’s descent into the ocean as an image of rebirth: above ground, the speaker is awkward in her flippers and gear. Underwater, she loses air and almost blacks out, only to reemerge in a more fluid state.
When considering this poem’s ocean setting, it is important to think of the ocean as both a metaphor for the unconscious, and a metaphor for the womb. The ocean is something we descend into, something we go under, as opposed to our ordinary state of above-ground walking. In it, we move more fluidly than above ground, floating in water rather than held down by gravity. As a symbol for the state of the unconscious, imagination, and free play, the ocean can be understood as a symbol for the state of mind one must enter to write poetry.
Considering Rich’s feminism, it is also helpful to follow Milford and think of the ocean as a metaphor for the womb. Suspended in water just as a fetus is suspended in amniotic fluid, the speaker of the poem is in a state of birth (or rebirth). In fact, this can connect to her identification with the mermaid and the merman: while she begins the poem thinking she is alone, after the “rebirth” under water, she realizes that she in fact has brothers and sisters, others who share her political and aesthetic goals. This does not contradict the interpretation of the ocean as the realm of art/the unconscious, but rather supports it, suggesting that art in fact allows for rebirth.
