Not Waving but Drowning

“Not Waving but Drowning” is a lyric poem by English poet Stevie Smith. Smith drew and wrote novels, essays, and plenty of poems. The poem appeared in her 1957 collection of the same name. The poem speaks to the atomized, lonely existence commonly associated with modernity, suggesting that people need to carefully watch and listen to others to understand what they are going through. Frequently, people make assumptions about others, and such uncritical opinions can have dire consequences. Scholars and critics generally consider “Not Waving but Drowning” her most famous poem and one of the most well-known poems of modern England.

Smith has a reputation as a literary eccentric, so her work does not align neatly with a specific literary period or movement. However, the poem’s main themes and ideas—including misunderstanding and individual alienation—connect her to Modern and Postmodern poets such as T. S. Eliot and Sylvia Plath, with the latter being an open admirer of Smith's work.

Content Warning: This study guide references suicide ideation, death by suicide, and mental health conditions.

Poet Biography

Stevie Smith was born in Yorkshire, England, on September 20, 1902. Her parents named her Florence Margaret, but, later, while riding a horse in London, a group of cheeky boys cried, “Come on, Steve!”—an allusion to the famous English horse-racing jockey Steve Donoghue—and Steve became Stevie, and the nickname stuck.

Smith's father was an unsuccessful shipping agent who left the family when Smith was three. Smith grew up in a house dominated by women—her mom, sister, and her aunt, Madge Spear. For almost all of her life, Smith lived with her aunt in her home in North London. Smith’s mom died when Smith was 17. A year later, she found a job for the magazine publisher Arthur Pearson. She worked for Pearson for over 30 years as a secretary. Due to mental health issues, Smith tried to die by suicide while at work on July 1, 1953. The suicide attempt ended Smith’s job but left her with a pension.

Four years after the incident, Smith published her sixth collection of poetry, Not Waving but Drowning (1957). The book features the famous poem of the same name. Her debut collection, A Good Time Was Had By All, appeared 20 years earlier, in 1937. A prolific writer, Smith also published three novels, including Novel on Yellow Paper (1936). She also drew continuously and included her drawings in her poetry collections.

Smith never married or had children, but she had prominent friends like George Orwell and distinguished admirers like Sylvia Plath. Smith’s aunt died in 1968, and Smith died three years later due to a brain tumor. In 1978, her life became a movie, Stevie, with Glenda Jackson playing Smith.

Poem Text

Smith, Stevie. “Not Waving but Drowning.” 1957. Poets.org.

Summary

The poem starts with a statement from a nameless speaker: “Nobody heard him, the dead man” (Line 1). There is a person, and he is dead. In the following line, the reader discovers the dead man is not actually dead yet. Ironically, or unexpectedly, the dead man is still sentient—he is “moaning” (Line 2). The dead—or dying—man has company, and he talks to them. He tells them, “I was much further out than you thought / And not waving but drowning” (Lines 3-4). There is a misunderstanding between the dead man and the others: They thought he was waving to them while he was drowning and signaling for help.

In Stanza 2, the other people speak. They reflect on the tragic fate of the dying man. They call him a “poor chap” and note his love for “larking” (Line 5) or daring, mischievous behavior. The people reinforce the idea that the man is now dead even though he can express himself. They also come up with a cause of death: The cold water made his heart stop.

The dying man contests the diagnosis. He clarifies to the others, “[I]t was too cold always” (Line 9). He adds, “I was much too far out all my life” (Line 11). What the people around him see as a single incident, the dying man portrays as a pattern—he has spent his entire life feeling cold and distant, and has therefore persistently been not “waving but drowning” (Line 12) for much of his life.