FREE ESSAY ON STEVIE SMITH'S "NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING"

STEVIE SMITH'S "NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING"

Dying Softly
"Nobody heard him, the dead man, / but still he lay moaning:" (lines 1-2). This is how
many people go on through life. Many are dying inside but you would never know. It is
possible for people to create masks to hide their emotions. Sometimes these masks are so
deceptive that even close friends or family members cannot see through then until it is
too late. In Stevie Smith's poem, "Not Waving but Drowning" the writer effectively
highlights how someone's cry for help can be mistaken for joy. It is important for people
to at least have someone who cares about them and knows them well enough to see when
something is going wrong in their lives. This can often be the lifeline that saves one
from drowning.
Recently I learned firsthand how deceptive these masks could be. Someone that I know but
that I was not really close to took his own life this past week. On the outside he seemed
like a happy person. He had a lot of 'boys' and everyone seemed to know him. But could it
be that something was going on inside that no one knew about? "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."(Lines 5-9) This is how it was with his guy, everyone cold only speculate why
he would kill himself because none of them knew anything except that he was a fun guy to
be around. It's a shame that it takes something as drastic as suicide to make people even
wonder if people have conflicts going on inside them that can be extremely detrimental to
them. As the speaker states, "Oh no no no, it was too cold always, / … / I was to
far out all my life" (lines 10-12). Only a true friend would know this and like the man I
referred to earlier it can be assumed that the man in the poem had no true friends.
Many people in this world have no true friends and those that do have very few. A true
friend could have seen that something was not right with this man. Perhaps the first
speaker in the poem thinks that he was closer to the second then he actually was. But
actually, according to the second speaker "[He] was out much further than you thought /
and not waving but drowning" (lines 3-4). I true friend would have known the difference.
I'm not saying that true friends are psychic when it comes to their friends but I am
saying that when you are close to someone you are able to see through their ask more
easily than a casual acquaintance would. People who are dying inside usually give warning
signs that something is not right with them but you often do realize it until something
tragic happens.
The hardest thing for friends and relatives of people who kill themselves is when they
realize that the one that died ha been trying to tell them that something was wrong but
they either brushed it off and disregarded it as a joke or never paid attention at all.
The man in the poem was crying out for help, but those observing brushed it off as if he
was waving at them. The sad thing is they never bothered to ask. If only they had asked
instead of assuming, the man may not have died. It is the same with those that commit
suicide. All they need is for someone to ask them what's wrong. They are begging for
someone to take the rope from around their neck but instead their friends just walk on
by. 
Every years thousands of people kill themselves and the story is all ways the same. "Why
didn't he/she tell me?" they say. But it always hurts the most when they realize that
they were trying to tell them for a long time but they chose not to listen. Yes, some
people wear darker masks then others and no matter how much of a good friend you are,
they wouldn't open up to you, but in most cases the signs are there. All these people
need is someone to stop them from dying but to often they never find that.