Not Waving but Drowning” Study Guide Questions
- What did the author Stevie Smith do a few months after writing this poem?
The writer went to visit his the dead man’s home in light of his untimed death
- Where is the man/speaker in the poem?
The poem refers to the speaker through continuous shifts of pronouns of me, them, and him suggesting that the dead man may be contemplating his unfortunate death at that time.
- In the first stanza, what statement does the dead man make? Did he try to communicate this thought while he was living?
In line1 3 and 4 of the first stanza, when the dead man says he was tried to reach for help, nobody seemed to care. He was not playing, nor was he waving as people thought; however, he needed help to stop him from drowning.
- Being “much too far out” is a symbol of
The statement symbolizes his struggles and serious problems he was facing before his death.
- What does the poem suggest about the people who saw him in the water?
The poem gives the impression that people who saw the dead man in the water thought he was waving at them and enjoying his moments, contrary to the fact that he was suffering and dying
- In the second stanza, what do “they” believe caused the man’s death?
The people believed the dead man drowned in water for not getting help. This statement is evident in the 3rd line, where they say ‘it must have been colder for the dead man; hence he lost his life.
- In your opinion, who are “they”? What can you infer about their relationship with the man?
The’ they’ in the poem symbolizes people at the shore, probably his neighbors who thought he was greeting them at the expense of him drowning
- How do people attempt to blame the dead man?
from the 1st line of the second stanza, when the poem takes a 3rd person pronoun and stating that the dead man always liked larking, the poetry tends to blame the dead man since he always wanted to joke with people and so even at his time of death they thought he was joking.
- What does “It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way” imply about the man and the people who knew him?
The statement implies that the dead man struggled to stay alive and later gave up and died even after really sorting for help.
- Why does the man continue to moan and call even though he is dead? What could this symbolically mean?
The dead man’s tears, even after his death, symbolizes the countless sufferings that people undergo while their friends ignore thinking that they are joking about their problems. Besides, the situation is a sign of how people are often misunderstood even at their points of need
- Can you mistreat someone by ignoring them?
Ignoring people at their point of need huts the forgotten individuals so much and, to this extent, a great sign of mistreatment. This statement is evident in the 1st stanza when the dead man still moans even after his death
- What is the meaning of the title and the last two lines of the poem?
The title and the last lines in the poem symbolizes the dead man’s suffering and trying to reach out in life to people who considered not his struggles.
Suicide Note” – Janice Mirikitani
- Where is the girl when she commits suicide, and who is she writing this to?
The girl commits suicide while at her school dormitory, and she writes the note to her parents, including his father and mother.
- Is there any proof that what she says about her family is true?
Inline ten, when the girl says if only she were a son, her parents would have hopes in her since education would be of the key at that point and her masculinity and strength. Besides, her death all together contribute to what she says about her family.
- What does she say about boys, and what does this reveal about her?
The girl conceives boys as the source of happiness and pride in most families just for their stronger muscles and people worthy of work. This saying reveals that she does not obtain praise from her parents just because of being a boy.
- What do birds symbolize in this poem?
The bird in the poem is used to symbolize the girls’ corpses after her death
- Why does her age/where she is added to this tragic end?
The girl dies at a young adults age where she faces transition into college to obtain higher education and later gets a job .To this extent, the only remaining thing since she fails in her tests is to get married off and lose it in life .and to that she decides to end her life.
- What do the repeated phrases mean?
The repeated words ‘not good enough ‘have been used to symbolize the girl’s perception of how least she contributes to her family through her failures.
- What gives her a sense of relief and peace?
The girl’s death gives her a sense of relief and eternal peace since she will no longer need to struggle to meet her parents’ expectations of being good enough.