Not Waving but Drowning

“The Crazy Woman” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)

In Brooks’s poem, the speaker, a supposedly “crazy woman,” experiences alienation and isolation. Like Smith’s dead man, the woman is separate. However, the woman prefers to be “further out” (Line 3) and away from the crowd. She does not want to fit in and sing joyously in May or during the spring; she would rather sing a doleful song in November during the fall. Unlike the dead man, the “crazy woman” is bold and confident. Concerning literary devices, the poems share irony and humor: the “crazy woman” is not “crazy”—she is simply different.

“Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath (1965)

Plath was an admirer of Smith’s work, and one of her most famous poems, “Lady Lazarus,” has much in common with Smith’s poem. Both poems use irony and humor—although Plath’s poem is arguably much more vicious. Her speaker mixes waving and drowning. She is a “smiling woman” (Line 19) and a murderous monster: Plath’s speaker declares, “I eat men like air” (Line 74). Plath’s speaker is intentionally deceptive, while Smith’s dead man is sincere. He wants the people to help him, but they do not. People—men, in particular—are not much comfort to Plath’s speaker either, but Plath’s speaker gets revenge that the dead man does not seek.