Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith Research

1. Things To Note:

1.1. There's a theme of miscommunication or misinterpretation

1.2. Could be an allegory for mental illness

1.3. No clear speaker - switches around from time to time

1.3.1. Lines 1-2 and 7: unknown speaker who sets the poem up (perhaps judgemental of the dead man)

1.3.2. Lines 3-4 and 11-12: The dead man, uses "I"

1.3.3. Stanza 2 - Could be the same speaker in Line 1, more sympathetic towards the man

2. Form And Structure

2.1. Stanza One and Three uses half rhymes - "moaning" and "drowning"

2.2. 12 lines, divided into three stanzas

2.3. Has a rhyme scheme of ABCB

3. Poetic Devices

3.1. Alliteration

3.1.1. "Nobody heard him"

3.1.2. "Loved larking"

3.1.3. "Him his heart"

3.2. Caesura - A stop or pause in a line

3.2.1. "Poor chap, he always loved larking"

3.3. Consonance

3.3.1. "Waving but drowning" (ng)

3.3.2. "Nobody heard him" (d)

3.4. Enjambment

3.4.1. "I was much too far out // and not waving but drowning"

3.5. Epizeuxis - Quick repetition of word(s) to draw emotions

3.5.1. "Oh, no no no"