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 Girl "Drowning Girl", "Hopeless" and "In the Car". These works served as prelude to 1964 paintings of innocent "girls next door" in a variety of tenuous emotional states. "In "Hopeless" and "Drowning Girl", for example, the heroines appear as victims of unhappy love affairs, with one displaying helplessness ... and the other defiance (she would rather drown than ask for her lover's help)." "Drowning Girl", the aforementioned works and "Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But..." are among those tragedies that make the author a popular draw at museums. "Drowning Girl" is derived from the splash page from "Run for Love!", illustrated by