Recitations
“Not Waving, but Drowning” by Stevie Smith
“The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats
“Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas
Explication
Explication of “Not Waving, but Drowning” by Stevie Smith
“Not Waving, but Drowning” is Stevie Smith’s most well-known and appreciated poem. Published in 1957, “Not Waving, but Drowning” is a twleve line poem that fuses writing styles of both comedy and tragedy.
The first two lines of the first stanza introduce the reader to the reporter, who confesses that nobody heard the dead man, yet he continued to cry and wave his arms for help. The colon at the end of line two indicates that the dead man is about to speak, changing the narrative from third to first person. Although Smith never mentions the ocean in the poem, the reader can conclude that “too far out” literally means too far out at sea, and the man swam too far out into dangerous waters. The dead man expresses that he was not drowning, but the people mistook his wailing arms for friendly waving.
In the second stanza, it is revealed that the people and society were familiar with the man, but did not really know him. The people in the society were consoling, stating that he was always playful and lively, but he could not handle the coldness and died. In reality, it was all a façade the dead man put on. He actually felt very lonely and isolated. The dead man also uses words like “further” (3) and “far” (11) to express the distance, loneliness, and misunderstanding he felt from the society.
In the third stanza, the dead man clarifies to the people that it was always cold for him throughout life. He always lacked warmth, love, and affection from the society, and never got any attention from them when he was alive. The misunderstanding and miscommunication from the society was too cold for him. He yet again states that he was not waving to them, but was drowning and asking for help.
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