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
Drowning-pit did not have to be constructed, making actual drowning-pits rare features within the physical landscape. It is not clear what the ratio of male to female deaths was in feudal times. Many gallows sites are also associated with the discovery of bones; however records do not clearly state the sex. Gallows Hill, in the parish of Cruden, was where criminals were executed and where human skeletons have been found. A deep pool in the Water of Cruden opposite is where 'others' were drowned. There was a Drowning Pool, at Balliemore, Strathspey, South-east of Inverness, where it is said that witches