Not Waving but Drowning

The title of the poem indicates its central theme: misunderstanding or miscommunication. The poem implies a mix-up with the adverb “not” and the conjunction “but.” Someone thought someone was doing one thing when they were doing another, and the mistake has stark consequences for the poem’s main character, the dead man. Repeating the title, he tells the others, “I was much further out than you thought / And not waving but drowning” (Lines 3-4). Confusion propels the poem: The other people did not understand what was happening to the dead man; they saw his drowning as a wave or a friendly gesture, not a signal of distress.

As “[n]obody heard him” (Line 1), the misunderstanding connects to miscommunication or a blatant lack of listening. For whatever reason, the other people cannot process what the dead man tells them. They think he is dead due to “larking” (Line 5) and the “cold” (Line 7). Smith furthers the theme of miscommunication when the dead man repeats the reasons for his death at the end of the poem, “I was much too far out all my life / And not waving but drowning” (Lines 11-12). Minus the misunderstanding about the dead man’s distance and gestures, there is no poem.