“Rhetoric, Poetics and Poetry”

In Chapter 5 “Rhetoric, Poetics and Poetry” by Jonathan Culler, Culler has discussed the relationship between rhetoric, poetic, and poetry. He introduces four master tropes which are metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony.  A metaphor is the most powerful way to express the author’s ideas and emotions. And it is when you compare something to something else differently. By reading the poem called “Diving into the wreck” by Adrienne Rich, she uses metaphor several over the poem, “There is a ladder.The ladder is always there” the ladder here is what the society believes in the woman rights and her role as a part of it.  “book of myths” is the old fashioned ideas for how should the woman react and sideline her role as apart of the society. She mentioned the camera when you dive under the sea to explore the wreck to document what you will see, “treasure ” is the real heritage of the woman as a crucial part of the society in the history.  So the poem here is a very effective literature voice for the woman right, and a metaphor all over the poem inspires the reader’s imagination, which made the ideas of the writer easier to understand.