A Study Guide for Stevie Smith's "Not Waving but Drowning"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Stevie Smith's "Not Waving but Drowning," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Aug 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535829694

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Not Waving but Drowning

Stevie Smith

1957

Introduction

Not Waving but Drowning is the title poem of Stevie Smith’s 1957 collection of poetry. Written in the later part of Smith’s career, the poem was cited by many critics as exemplifying in a single piece many of Smith’s most notable poetic traits: reoccurring images of water and death; radical shifts in the speaker’s tone and persona; and a voice that speaks as if reciting a carefree nursery rhyme, but is one that details grave news. The poem is a haunting glimpse at a swimmer’s unfortunate death by drowning, the details of which are relayed by both the dead man’s friends and the dead man himself. The poem is set up as a conversation between the dead one [who] lay moaning and his friends, who can only guess It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way. We learn through this dialogue that the man died because he was farther out than [he] thought and the friends on shore could not decipher his waving as panic nor hear him yelling for