drowning in the sea of hopeless-ness.

Not Waving but Drowning

Stevie Smith

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.

On, 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.


I really really like this poem! We went over this last semester and I was wanting to write about it, but didn't know exactly what to say- I now have an idea of what I want to say.

Every single one of us have been in times of pure darkness and distress. This poem, I believe, is not about the literal sense of ACTUALLY drowning. In the final couplet of the poem it states, " I was much too far out all my life and not waving but drowing." The person in the poem may not be in a literal death situation but rather a more mental one, because many times we find oursleves etched within a habitual lifestyle that leads to the feeling of "drowning", meaning; this is a CAUTIONARY poem warning that we must not conform to what is comfortable but rely on what is not comfortable. I relate this poem much to the lives of the saints I have read, they released themselves from the "drowning" to which the world has adjusted to but yet- they are sitting amongst the shore relying on the holiest of lives.

The point of view shifts in the poem and is taken from the shore, and then from the water. Those two shifts give the reader a way of looking at the drowning and the serious-ness of the subject as- well. The view taken from the shore looking out to the person drowning is seemingly ironic, because while the person  is safe on the shore looking out, they're thinking that the person is just "waving" to them. Many of us look to those who are seemingly in trouble and seem to just pass it right by, unable to think that we could do anything to help.. the problem of that? We can always do something to help the drowning.