Not Waving but Drowning and other poems

by Stevie Smith

'Cheerful, brutal, beautiful! Stevie Smith is the wildest poet of them all.' Nick Cave

'I better say straight out that I am an addict of your poetry, a desperate Smith addict.'

Sylvia Plath, writing to Stevie Smith, 1962


'Revolutionary, wild, and fierce.' Ali Smith


Stevie Smith was not only a famous poet in her lifetime but a poet before her time, a radical eccentric who relished the performance of poetry as sung and spoken word. The poems are distinctly unsentimental as she casts the 'eye of an anarchist' over propriety and convention, finding comedy in the tragic and tragedy in the comic. She asks the questions we don't have the nous or courage to ask, speaking for the lonely, the troubled and the trapped, and for any of us who at one time or another have found ourselves not waving but drowning.

Genres: Poetry

62 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 8, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist.

Reviews

[Léa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think this sort of poetry is for me, but the illustrations were gorgeous!!!

[Elliot Dobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not one to read poetry particularly, and read this on a whim. I’m very glad that I did as it contains some very lovely poems

[Matilda Smart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stevie Smith stop giving me tattoo ideas

[charly (normalreaders)]

i just don’t know if this type of poetry is for me. the cover is phenomenal though and i liked the illustrations

[Marleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

All things pass/ Love and mankind is grass

[Esmé · Rating 3 out of 5]

In all honesty, I'm probably not clever enough for this collection. I had to keep pausing my read to google things, and while it was really interesting to learn about hendecasyllables and Aeolic metres, it did disrupt my enjoyment of some of these poems. I definitely finished this book feeling like I'd learned something, about poetry and the human condition both. Some of the rhythm and rhyme schemes just didn't work for me, I tried reading them out loud and just couldn't work out how the syllable/iambic structure was meant to sound. There were some poems that I really liked: Tender Only to One; Away, Melancholy; and Black March. I loved the inclusion of Stevie Smith's illustrations, and seeing how the art informed the poem (and vice versa). A lovely quick read, but a tad bit dissatisfying in places.

[leni swagger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavenly

[bXu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stevie Smith came to me as a friend warning me of self doubt. Beautiful 1st read of 2025

Fav poems:
- In My Dreams
- I do not Speak
- Love Me!
- The River God of the River Mimram in Hertfordshire
- Mrs Arbuthnot

[Anna Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I was much too far out all my life / And not waving but drowning."

Initially, the combination of short, more simplistic poems with little illustrations reminded me almost of a children's novel, like Roald Dahl. Without knowing much about Smith it's extremely easy to identify her fascination with death and subsequent depression in these pages, and my copy has a glowing review from none other than Sylvia Plath.

However, I think a benefit of writing poetry that's shorter is also knowing you have less room to make an impact, which I think Smith does fairly well. Some poems are stronger than others — poems like "My Muse" or "Old Ghosts," for example. Not my favorite collection but one where the voice is strong and the themes clear.

[Sophia Svinos · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

some of the poems are beautiful and haunting and will stay with me, but there are some that had less of an impact. it was lovely to look at the illustrations and see the connections to the poetry

[Mina H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a shame to hear about Stevie Smith poetry just now, I don’t know how I put my hands on this little book of poems but was an amazing discovery and now I want to read more of her work. The illustrations are incredible.

[R · Rating 1 out of 5]

I need to stop trying with poetry
I just don’t get it
Sorry Stevie

[Fiona Murphy McCormack · Rating 2 out of 5]

*gifted by Faber

Rip Stevie Smith - you would've loved instapoetry and the tortured poets department

Not Waving But Drowning is a selection of poems by Stevie Smith (1902-1971) who sort of serves as a proto Rupi Kaur of England. She was an eccentric character popular in her own lifetime, though the establishment was against her. She was
beloved by Sylvia Plath, there were rumours of an affair with George Orwell but most importantly only last year documents were revealed that had been considered for Poet Laureate of England but was rejected because she: "wrote 'little girl poetry' about herself mostly" and was ''unstable.''

Growing up a survivor of TB - all of Smith's work is marred by death its the subject of so many of her poems. They are all written with simplicity and lined cartoonish drawings which predate the wide trend of this style which was popularised a century after her birth.
Now as for the poems themselves - I would not say I enjoyed this book. On a style and taste level - while I can appreciate what she did from a pioneer standpoint, I can also dislike at a personal level.
The strongest poems of the collection are Not Waving But Drowning and Mrs Arbuthnot both of which I had already come across before this completed collection however on doing research into Stevie Smith her novels on colonialism and antisemitism written so timely around WW2- I would like to try

[Reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about Stevie Smith years ago, but only now picked up a book of her work. The titular Not Waving But Drowning is definitely her most well-known work and possibly the strongest example of her style.

Her work is incredibly diverse, from the brutally honest depictions of drowning men to clever word play about Roman names and titles.

It's not my usual poetic preference. Her depictions of nature are rather brutal and invoke death more often than a reconciliation between man and land. It's incredibly modern but enjoyable even if I personally prefer more structured stanzas and rhyming conventions.

[cypher · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice quick read over a morning coffee, some poems i liked more than others, but all were generally good.
it has some strange rhyme at times, and there are a few places without (i think those are my least favourite parts), but it does come with rhyme, in general, which is, in my opinion, an important part of good poetry.

my favourite from the collection was probably “to the Tune of the Coventry Carol”.

[tobehonest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This type of poetry is crafted to be performed- so simply reading 'not waving but drowning' for me, was not enough. I feel as though I would've had a greater enjoyment and understanding of these poems if I had watched them being performed. alas, I did not. grasping the structure and meter of these proved to be quite difficult, and some of the poems were a bit hit-or-miss for me. Needless to say, these poems were a beautiful read and carried some timeless themes.

[Rian Matanky-Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several special poems in this collection. The titular though a first among not quite equals, but some mighty fine companions.

Some thoughts:

Not waving but drowning - incredible, I can feel my heart beat change on reading and my breath catch
The Frog Prince - ‘only the disenchanted can be heavenly’ - chefs kiss
To the tune of Coventry carol - sound advice
Love me! - evocative
Tenuous and precarious - I’d love a cat called Tedious!

[Dodowacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Source: Watched an episode of Chiken shop date and discovered loyle carner. He has an album with the same name so i discovered this book


It was such a lovely small book. I don’t think I get all the poems though. I particularly love her telling on the story about the drowning man - so empathetic of her and so accurate the picturing of the breakdown of people who pretend to be good and normal. It was written in 1966, yet I feel a sense of warmth reading it in 2025.

[Chaz C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel very seen by Stevie Smith. The poems and the illustrations are equally beautiful, though sometimes a little sad. This is the sort of poetry I love to read again and again over a cup of tea. My favourites were definitely Tender Only to One and The River God of the River Mimram in Hertfordshire

[Daniel Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me parece una muy buena opción para iniciarse en la poesía.
Por lo general son poemas accesibles, no por ello desmerecen el mensaje, la mayoría llevan a la reflexión y analizar el mensaje que la autota pretende dar incluso con esa sencillez que los caracteriza.
Muy recomendado.

[Benjamin Brooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the reviews on here cite the cover and illustrations as the big pull here. They may be valid, but the poems shouldn’t be overlooked. The crying frog looking at the glistening moon speaks a lot in regard to what we seek from life these days; this poetry is for those people.

[Milan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover alone is wonderful.

[Lavelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

some I enjoyed and some I didn't get, and that about sums poetry up for me tbfh

[māris šteinbergs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was pretty nice and lovingly written!
superb cover!

rupi kaur has no shit on her, also, just shut up even comparing these two, my god!

[Caroline Roseberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange but compelling little book. I’m still not sure I “get” poetry.

Also: One of my favourite covers of 2024! Love the little froggy — and Smith’s illustrations accompanying the poems.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love how the poems come with little whimsical illustrations. Stevie's poems are such a lovely example of assigning deeper meaning, of finding a magical way to see things within the despairs of life

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read standing up in the bookstore in one gulp. Sounds like Norma Tanega's "Jubilation"

[Vix · Rating 2 out of 5]

the title poem was a gem

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

simple but good not for me tho

[Heather Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

S’cute