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.
Sounds very dark and cold
It sounds like he was struggling his entire life even before his moment of death.
it sounds like someone who is drowning of depression…
which is what we see that happens with many people in the public eye…
whether they be vloggers or celebrities that are very depressed with what is going on in their personal lives, and feel that they can’t share it. Because they would be ridiculed because of it.
i find it to be very sad, that people #cancel everyone and everything for not having like-minded thoughts… since that is technically and truely what people think…
i think its very sad that people want to live in a fake world or in a bubble, instead of a true/factual world….
In his poem “Not Waving but Drowning” Stevie Smith criticized the society by telling a story of a dead man. Stevie Smith wanted to show the situation of our society toward a victim by the perspective of a dead man who was moaning after his death. The dead man was moaning about the society because no one heard him when he was drawing and the society gave him a cold response instead of helping him. The society misunderstood that the man was waving.The poem shows us the the loneliness of the dead man.The dead man struggled with this cold response in his entire life being alive whenever he called for a help and nobody answered.
The news sounds sad and painful
When he really need help or comfort but had nobody to that for him.
The poem makes me think that he needed someone to talk to and rely on. He was going through all the hard times by himself. He needed someone to tell him not to lose hope yet
I feel like this poem is trying to show how this person needed help, but no one realized because they all felt he was already too far gone. The poem keeps repeating how he is not waving but drowning; which shows me that even though he needs help, he is not calling out for it either, which may be a reason why no one seems to help.
Stress is everywhere, stress in daily life, stress in earning a living, stress in work, stress in relationships between people. The pressure is too much to breathe, not just humans, animals are struggling. Many people pretend to be happy and often make jokes with friends, but no one sees that they are actually asking for help.
this poem made me instantly think of the dark and scary times that I experienced working in the medical field. Gave me a sense of PTSD in a way. Interesting poem…
Yikes! Though I can understand that.