“Not Waving But Drowning” is a poem that describes the fate of an unfortunate man whose waving had been mistaken for a greeting instead of a call for help. Upon further interpretation, the poem is about isolation and loneliness that comes from being misunderstood.
The first stanza begins with a paradox: the dead mean lays moaning (complaining) how he was much further out than the person he addresses thought, and that he was not waving but drowning. The second stanza is told from a distant perspective, in remembrance of the poor man who died and how he always loved to make jokes. “They” comment how it must have been too cold for him and that his heart gave out.
In the third stanza, the drowned dead man answers to the commentary in the second stanza. He tells that he always felt too cold and that he was always too much far out, not waving but drowning.
