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Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957, as part of a collection of the same title. The most famous of Smith's poems, it gives an account of a drowned man, whose distant movements in the water had been mistaken for waving.
"Not Waving but Drowning" is the most famous poem by British poet Stevie Smith, and was first published in 1957. The poem describes a drowning man whose frantic arm gestures are mistaken for waving by distant onlookers.
“Not Waving but Drowning” takes place in the aftermath of the man’s death. Write a poem that takes place just after an important or traumatic event. How does the crowd feel or react?
‘Not Waving But Drowning’ by Stevie Smith describes the emotional situation of a speaker whose true tribulations go unnoticed by all those around her.
Speaking of “serious,” “Not Waving but Drowning” is Smith’s most famous poem. This twelve-line punch to the gut is one of her most sober and plainly nihilistic pieces. The poem begins after the central drama has already taken place.
Stevie Smith. 1902 –. 1971. 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.
‘Not Waving but Drowning’ is the best-known poem by Stevie Smith (1902-71). In 1995, it was voted Britain’s fourth favourite poem in a poll. First published in 1957, the poem fuses comedy and tragedy, moving between childlike simplicity and darker, more cynical touches.
