Not Waving but Drowning Not Waving but Drowning "Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957 as part of a collection of the same title. The most famous of Smith's poems, it gives an account of a drowned man whose distressed thrashing in the water had been mistaken for waving. The poem was accompanied by one of Smith's drawings, as was common in her work. The poem's personal significance has been the topic of several pieces of literary criticism because Smith was treated for psychological problems. She contemplated suicide at the age of eight
Renascence (poem) title. Millay's fame began in 1912 when the nineteen-year-old, encouraged by her mother, entered her poem "Renascence" in a poetry contest in "The Lyric Year". Millay had written and published poetry in "St. Nicholas", a children's magazine, throughout her teen years, and had become a proficient poet. At some point, Millay wrote "Renascence" while looking out from the summit of Mt. Battie in Camden, Maine (where a plaque now commemorates the writing of the poem). The poem may have been influenced by Millay's childhood experience of nearly drowning. Her mother, Cora Millay, saw an announcement for a poetry contest sponsored