REFLECTIONS Not Waving But Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he's dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They said. Oh, no no no, it was too cold always (Still the dead one lay moaning) I was much too far out all my life And not waving but drowning.

STEVIE SMITH

Not Waving but Drowning

The Poet
Stevie Smiths poetry has been considered as unusual and profoundly personal as Smith was treated for psychological problems. She contemplated 1. __________ at the age of eight after what she described as a difficult childhood and her struggle with the fact that her father abandoned her.

Title
The poem describes a man whose distressed thrashing in the sea causes onlookers to believe that he is 2. _________ to them. The title immediately hints that things are not always as they seem, and we often fail to distinguish reality from appearances.

Theme
Smith highlights the importance of being consistent with your real feelings since the consequences can be 3. _________. On the other hand, it is equally true that the society surrounding us is often unable to read between the lines and offer its help.

Structure
The poem is short, consisting only of 4. __________ lines. However, the superficial simplicity belies the ambiguous message within, in the same way that the waving was superficially misinterpreted.

Imagery
The poem is built on contradictions. How can a dead man lay 5. ____________? How can a drowning man be mistaken as waving? How can the bystanders shrug someones death as a joke? Smith employs two contradictory tones the absurd and the tragic, to represent the internal conflict that the speaker is suffering. The poems central metaphor of calling out for help while drowning but being misunderstood as waving indicates that this conflict originates from the miscommunication between the speaker and society. In public, the speaker fakes a bright and lively personality (waving, larking) even though inside, he is feeling isolated and 6. ________ (drowning, death). The cold the man has died of is not the literal one - due to low body temperature as the bystanders had concluded, but another kind of coldness an 7. ___________ one.

Sounds
The poem makes use of alliteration like loved larking and him his heart to bring out the desolation in the mans life as well as social emptiness.

Diction
Diction is 8. _________ and rather humorous contradicting the loneliness and desperation of the man who is drowning. The usage of colloquial l anguage such as poor chap and Oh, no no no, adds to the effect by giving the impression that the whole poem is a casual joke between friends. Beginning the poem in a third person perspective (he), the speaker creates some distance between himself and the dead man, however the use of the pronoun I changes the poem from a story into a personal experience and

we

realise

that

the

situation

is

not

9.

__________.

Attitudes and Ideas

The poem can be read as a criticism of a society which has become indifferent, shallow and cold. We are part of that same society that denied her help when needed. However, as readers we are also invited to feel like that drowning man and possibly realise that we are also in the same 10. __________.

Response
Readers have often remarked that this poem has been of consolation to them in difficult times. How can poetry/literature provide refuge?