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Stevie Smith - 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.
This poem has repetition in the first and last stanzas. Throughout the poem there are examples of consonance, assonance, imperfect/eye rhyme, alliteration and sensory imagery.
Hermione Lee, a president and professor of Oxford College, has edited and introduced numerous editions and anthologies by countless poets, including Stevie Smith. She perfectly sums up this poet in one word by saying, ‘Stevie Smith often uses the word 'peculiar' and it is the best word to describe her effects’.
This poem starts out in a physical reality describing a drowning man in the first two stanzas, but in the last it shifts to literal reality. It shows how alone this man is all his life and that no one cares enough to get to know him because he is misunderstood. So, he is literally drowing on the inside.
Away Melancholy by: Stevie Smith (Read at: http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets /Stevie_Smith/1270) This poem by Smith has many poetic elements including sensory imagery, rhyme (eye/end/perfect/imperfect), consonance, assonance, repetition, metaphors and (the biggest) apostrophe, which is used in the whole poem because Smith is addressing the emotion melancholy. This poem describes the melancholy of man because of his everyday routine life. (same nature) This poem shows how man must find and try to defeat this emotion, even though that is not always possible. God created everything on Earth and humans being the highest must take control of their actions. Everything in the world works as it should and has a purpose, so there is no reason to be melancholy. Even though you are 'blue,' the trees are still green, the wind still blows, life goes on.This poem tells of how God is perfect and man pushes himself to the limit to aspire to this and not disappoint. Even though man can be beaten down by war, disease and fear he still desires to love and has the capacity to do good.
This is a music video by The Bouncing Souls. The song is called ‘For All the Unheard’ (the unheard misunderstood man) which perfectly describes this poem Not Waving But Drowning. There are many poignant lyrics which relate: ‘like his heart, soundless and still’- the dead man ‘We walk alone with our troubled minds’ and ‘troubled life’- the man was alone and treated coldly all his life for being misunderstood ‘river of grief’- drowning ‘passion gone in our hearts’- ‘loved larking, but now he’s dead’
Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith was born on Sept. 20, 1902. For most of her life she lived with a very affectionate aunt she called 'The Lion' who became an important figure in her life. After school, she was secretary to many. She began writing poetry and novels in her twenties. She drew heavily on her experiences from life. Her most popular subject of her writings was death, 'her gentle friend.' She has a very unique prosaic style full of irony and a variety of voices. She died of a brain tumor in 1971. Stevie once said, 'I'm alive today, therefore I'm just as much a part of our time as everybody else. The times will just have to enlarge themselves to make room for me, won't they, and for everybody else.'
