Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The third-person speaker of this poem tells the story of a drowning man whose cries for help were misunderstood, resulting in his death.
Form and Meter
This poem is in the form of four-line stanzas (quatrains)
Metaphors and Similes
The man's drowning is a metaphor for his emotional suffering.
Alliteration and Assonance
"dead man, but still, he lay moaning"
Irony
Ironically, the man was actually asking for help, but everybody thought he was waving.
Genre
Narrative poem
Setting
This poem is set by a body of water where a man is drowning
Tone
The tone of the poem is at first light-hearted, but becomes serious towards the end.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is the man, and the antagonist is the lack of understanding.
Major Conflict
The major conflict of this poem is the man's attempt to be understood.
Climax
The climax of the poem is when we discover that the man's drowning is a metaphor for his mental health struggles.
Foreshadowing
The fact that the man is "far out" is foreshadowed at the beginning of the poem.
Understatement
The seriousness of the poem is understated in the first stanza.
Allusions
There are no cultural allusions in this poem; however, the speaker does allude to a current mental health crisis, and the fact that many people's suffering goes unheard.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The man's heart is personified in this poem when the speaker is describing his death.
Hyperbole
The speaker tells us it was "too cold always."
Onomatopoeia
N/A
