*Sep 20 2025 | Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith

We'll start the very first poem in The Poetry Collective with a classic. Stevie Smith (1902-1971) was an English poet and novelist. She won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1969. Her poetry can often seem whimsical and light, but I think you'll find always upon further reading, her poetry speaks deeply of the human condition.

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.

Published in Collected Poems of Stevie Smith 1972.

This poem has that Smith whimsy, a *dead* man lay moaning? Twice? And perhaps at first pass it seems rather a joke.

But it's one of the saddest poems I know. Probably at some point or another we wonder if we aren't also drowning but appear that we are just waving, in a water too cold, having a lark.

Stevie Smith had her own struggles, and once tried to commit suicide. Perhaps this poem is a bit about herself, as well.

There was a play written about her life by Hugh Whitemore titled Stevie made into a BBC TV film of the same name. You can watch it on Youtube. It stars Glenda Jackson, Alec McCowen, Trevor Howard, and the inimitable Mona Washbourne as the Lion Aunt. It includes lots of pieces of her poetry, a great place to hear more.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZq_kh8KLFW8UbkEjsfvsaFALH_i0Ha-3

My second favorite poem? Not in that film but a google search will without a doubt land you where you can read it--it has the original name of "Our Bog Is Dood." I'm currently trying to find a copy from an independent bookseller with that poem in it. My favorite seller is on the case.

As per Wikipedia (well cited) from others more knowledgeable and articulate than me:

"Smith's poems have been the focus of writers and critics around the world. James Antoniou writes in The Australian that her 'apparent innocence masks such fierce complexities, such ambition and startling originality, that many people baulk at her work',...

while Michael Dirda affirms in The Washington Post that, 'certainly, an outward charm is part of Smith's aesthetic strategy, though there’s nothing naive or whimsical beneath her surface.'...

Carol Rumens writes in The Guardian that Smith 'skewered formality, though formally deft, and challenged, with a Victorian school marm's brisk tartness, the lingering shades of late-Victorian social hypocrisy.'

Sadly the paragraph right after tells of the 2023 declassified UK government files that document the unfair reason she was denied appointment as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1967. She was not just some waver, but some were not so very elite or knowledgeable after all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Smith#

Oh, Glenda Jackson is a marvel. Added it to my watchlist. First floored by her in Elizabeth R, which is just sublime portrayal of the tile queen

I love the poem, oozes profound melancholy and sadness, but manages to wave a little regardless

>4 SandraArdnas: I like that, "manages to wave a little regardless."

Jackson is a marvel, so true. I loved how fierce she was in ER, one of the best portrayals of QE1 ever. Are you a special fan of Elizabeth? I am. They could make a new movie every single year about her and I'd watch.

I think you will love watching Jackson portray Stevie Smith. I put the video on sometimes while I'm working (I work from home)..for the good company.

Question: Was the phrase "Not Waving but Drowning" something people said before this poem?

Two thoughts:

1. Perspective

I think some of the interest comes from the unexpected changes in perspective, which isn't entirely clear until you read it several times, and which is appropriately like a wave in being both inundating and back and forth. The reader feels adrift on the changes, washed back and forth as well.

Neutral omniscient
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:

I, the dead man, quoted
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Collective limited (collective opinion of people in town or on the beach)
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.

I, the dead man, responding unhead to the collective limited
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always

Neutral omniscient
(Still the dead one lay moaning)

I, the dead man, shading into the poetic persona
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

I went back and forth a bit myself, but I think it's clear the dead man and the poetic persona are distinct—the shift from "man" to "one," and how poetic conceit is revealed, that a physical represents the poetic persona's mental drowning.

Analogizing mental life with the ocean is a well-worn idea. Shakespeare's "Sea of troubles" and lots of classical parallels. The structure manages to make it fresh.

2. Noise

There's an interesting play on noise and silence, thinking and saying. Nobody heard him as he was, presumably, yelling. Now he's moaning but also can't be heard because he's dead. Then the second stanza is nothing but talk talk talk--the talk of the town. "It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way," has the sense of way too much rumor and opinion, it overflows the line. This is followed by just "They said," which cuts them down to size almost humorously. "no no no" is a moan. "Still the dead one lay moaning" is more impossible moaning.

I agree that the last lines, "I was much too far out all my life/And not waving but drowning" is a personal statement also of the poet and her struggles in life.

I took a different meaning to the dead man moaning. Of course a dead man can't moan, which is why I assumed that he is not actually dead, but once again no one is paying him any heed or listening to him. His original cries for help were misinterpreted as waving, and now he isn't even dead yet (but presumably on the brink, and soon to be without help) and still no one can hear him moan. All they can say is how much he loved to lark. All his life he was drowning, and no one could tell, and now he lay dying, hearing all those around lament the man they never understood and not realise he still, desperately, needs their help.

A sad poem indeed, but very beautiful. Thank you for sharing, Debi!

>6 timspalding: I can't say for sure, but Smith tells that her idea came from a story in the newspaper about exactly that: the shocking story of a man drowning when the bystanders thought he was waving.

I think the poem made the phrase. Smith made the poem. A real drowning man made the waving.

>7 timspalding: I enjoyed your detailed deconstruction, Tim. Very much. Yes, the poem puts you ill at ease with the shifting, melding perspectives. But it works. In so few lines, you go from steady, off balance, back to steady--almost--again. If you read more Smith you would find that she had great intelligence and talent for the off-kilter, hidden in a cloak of near-snark.

>8 GraceCollection: Oh, Grace, that makes it even more heart-breaking. What a great observation. I've read it at least 20 times and it's never occurred to me that the man was still alive. I thought he was, well, I don't know now what I thought he was because your explanation now is so obliterating. In a perfect way.

Thank you for sharing, yourself!

@timspalding This is followed by just "They said," which cuts them down to size almost humorously.

I admire your talent for assessing how things "work" in a poem. It's not my strong suit, I merely intuitively respond. Thank you for the bonus level understanding.

>11 DebiCates: I thought he was, well, I don't know now

I do think it's perfectly valid to interpret that he is dead, and the moaning is either metaphorical or regarding a dead man's continued existence as a ghost/in an afterlife/etc., it's just not where my mind went! I think that's the great thing about literature and especially poetry; there are so many unique ways to interpret a work, and when we come together to discuss we can discover things we never saw!

I have fond memories of being read poetry to as a child, so to start with I found the following YouTube of Helena Bonham Carter reading - https://youtu.be/i3vcrxvkNNc?si=OyhmjfWKBXNpLEXA

It's an awful feeling, being separated from everyone around you. When you know they think you're okay but you aren't.... 'Not Waving but Drowning'. Feeling that far away and nobody noticing, even when you are trying to let them know. People can be cold.

Awfully sad. If the phrase wasn't used before, it certainly is now. Quite unforgettable, thank you for sharing. I hadn't heard it before, in fact I really haven't much knowledge or experience with poetry at all. I look forward to learning a lot more from you all here.

>15 TonjaE: It is so nice to hear when grownups speak fondly of being read to as children like you were. Such caring, sweet moments that stay with us.

Don't you just love what Helena Bonham Carter is doing for poetry? I'm all grown up by a long shot and I love being read to. I love that she's not snobby, but picks poems that are accessible to anyone who might drop by to listen and be moved by them.

Here's Stevie Smith reciting her poem with a brief introduction to how she came to write it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvG2rKMMaVM

Like you, I look forward to learning here and be introduced to poems I hadn't ever heard before.

I'm rather excited about it, in fact.

I was familiar with this poem before reading this thread, but certainly gained a lot of insight from all posted here. It's a marvel of brevity. So much packed into so few words, not only description of events or scenes, but also sentiment.

Often I first hear of a poem from a quote in a story or something else I'm reading, whether from a line used in the text or as a title. Usually that means I don't know it's a poem, at first, but only realise later when the line shows up in another context.

In this case, I first came across this poem when it was used as the title of a song, an arresting phrase even without the rest of the poem, and memorable such that years later when I came across the poem itself I saw the musicians had in fact been alluding to Smith.

A quick online search reveals that many, many musicians have used the lines and even set the entire poem to music.

Some very interesting insights here. I certainly picked up on the duality of words. Do the dead moan? I think the existence speaks. The infusion of the personal into the narrative is touching as she is certainly expressing the pain she has experienced in her own life trying to remain afloat.

>18 PaulCranswick: It is about that sensation, isn't it? About experiencing the pain of isolation and trying to remain afloat.

I am also a little sympathetic to those that stood by. I don't think they were callus exactly, they didn't know how to read the signals. I think we are all currently a little more aware of signs of mental health difficulties.

Or are we? So many recent tragic news items might tell us that we are not.

>19 DebiCates: Yes all that is clear is that everything is confusing.

>16 DebiCates: Since my Dad, and until now, Helena Bonham Carter has been my only poetry friend so yes, I agree; I love what she is doing for poetry. The expression she puts in to her readings really makes the poems come alive, love it!

Thank you for sharing Stevie Smith's reading of Not Waving But Drowning the most important insights there.

This group is a great idea, I'm rather excited to be here. :)

*edited out a crazy touchstone, still learning how to use all the commands in LT Talk too, eek!

>21 TonjaE: I'm so glad this group idea is speaking to you, Tonja! ❤️❤️❤️

>23 michaeljamesromt: That’s a thoughtful take. I agree, the contrast between appearance and reality is one of the strongest themes in the poem. It really shows how easily people can misread someone’s struggles, and why paying closer attention to others’ unspoken feelings is so important.

>24 dakjon: #23 was AI generated spam.

>25 amanda4242: I completely missed it, Amanda. I was too enthralled with another discussion you linked to (from 2013!) ha. Thank you for the diligence.

I'm guessing #24 might be AI too?

>26 DebiCates: #24 might be, or they just didn't read through to the part advertising a limo service.

>27 amanda4242: LOL!

Every Friday lunchtime I visit one of several local bookstores and this Friday I picked up would you believe: Not Waving but Drowning by Stevie Smith! The beautiful little hardcover book includes 32 of her poems including, of course, our featured poem this week.

I probably may have missed this one without our group!



Inside the dust cover there are plaudits from Nick Cave and Sylvia Plath the latter of whom said:

'I better say straight out that I am an addict of your poetry, a desperate Smith addict.' .......We are keeping good company this week!

>29 PaulCranswick: JOY!

With your delightful find, we've now moved out of the digital world of zeros and ones to the world of paper and ink. How splendid. Thank you for sharing. I hope it gives you much pleasure to read and to have on your shelf, Paul.

@PaulCranswick and what perfect routine you have for Friday afternoons. I'm green with envy. Been ages since I've been in a real bookstore. We used to have new and used bookstores aplenty. All that is left here is B&N 30 miles away. Oh, and one long time old used bookstore, nearer, mostly mass market paperbacks, the kind of place that makes you feel you are interrupting the owner during her 10-5 reading time. Bless her, hope it's her idea of the good life. Probably is.

Reading again just now, and struck by the second stanza.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead

The lilt of "always loved larking" skips along, only for the window to slam shut, "And now he's dead". For me more forceful than the first stanza, though I've already been told he's dead.

Finishing that stanza,

It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Formally it seems off, "gave way" should be in the next line to match the four syllables of "And now he's dead", no? But no. It works better this way. Maybe because it emphasizes the unbalanced scene, a chap who is dead, no longer larking. The end rhyme also brings a finality that I didn't get in the first stanza, "dead" and "said".

>31 DebiCates: My favourite bookstore is Kinokuniya which is housed in the KLCC Twin Tower mall on the top foor (Suria KLCC), there are two other Japanese bookstores that I like one is called Tsutaya and KL has two outlets as well as one called Elite bookstore which I rarely go to because parking in the building is difficult. The new mall (I was at yesterday) is the flagship of a local owned bookstore called MPH (Malaysia Publishing House) which is making a comeback in TRX Mall (Next to Malaysia's second tallest building : TRX is Tun Razak Exchange).

Merdeka 118 is the project I am currently closing out and is Malaysia's tallest building at 678.9 metres (and the World's second tallest), TRX is second at 454 metres and KLCC is third at 452 metres.

I will be keeping an eye out for Stevie Smith on my book hunts too. A new author to me which I have enjoyed here.

>16 DebiCates: it was good to get Stevie Smith talking through her poem, as I read it this was what I was envisioning

this is a poem that always makes me stop, it's so matter of factness always gives me a chill.

"Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead"

I also find this poem disorientating with it's point of view switching

>36 AnishaInkspill: Sounds like you read this poem before, Anisha. That's great. Smith is a clever "chap" herself, don't you think? In her poems, you'd think she, too, was "larking." Deceptively think that. I'm like you, when I read this poem I hear her voice, her cadence.

>37 DebiCates: I remember the first time I read this. I didn't know why but it just stopped me in my tracks in how it's matter of fact in how it reflects the confidence of the man who drowns.

I think she is v clever and I wouldn't mind reading more of her poems, incl her novels, the first one is Novel On Yellow Paper.

>38 AnishaInkspill: Me, too, Anisha. The same first reaction to this poem and the desire to read more of her, not only her poetry but novels. I have on my TBR (and searching for a used copy) The Holiday.

Why used? Because I like to support BetterWorldBooks that does a lot for world literacy, giving away thousands of books (and cash) each year. Does anyone else use them here?

P.S. Used also stretches my book budget to go further. Mostly I do for dead writers. Living writers I try to support by buying new from Independent booksellers.

>39 DebiCates: oh that's brilliant, I've seen that one on passing, it sounds like an interesting read