Research Article

Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith

Volume: 19 Number: 1 June 30, 2025
TR EN

Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith

Abstract

This article aims to provide an analysis of how English poet and novelist Stevie Smith’s poetry and simple sketches oscillate between despair and creative survival, intricately navigating the theme of death, as most notably seen in poems such as “Not Waving but Drowning,” “The River Deben”, “Oblivion,” “Black March,” “Come, Death (2)” and “Tender Only to the One.” This work also argues that Smith’s treatment of death as a gentle friend rather than a feared, ominous entity and even reframing it as a figure of god reveals a gradual transition from a misunderstood force, obscured by alienation and miscommunication to a desirable oblivion, liberated from suffering and constraints of life. Finally, a dimension of reverent, solemn acceptance and eager anticipation offer eternal and genuine relief from the unbearable burdens and turbulences of life. In that sense, Smith’s configurations of death and evocative drawings accompanying some of her poems mirror a sense of existential solitude while simultaneously resisting despair through creative expression.

Keywords

Ethical Statement

This is a research article, containing original data, and it has not been previously published or submitted to any other outlet for publication.

References

  1. Barbera, J. (1985). The relevance of Stevie Smith’s drawings. Journal of Modern Literature, 12 (2), 221–236. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3831321
  2. Barbera, J., & McBrien, W. (1985). Stevie: A biography of Stevie Smith. Oxford University Press.
  3. Baumert, R. (2007). Fear, melancholy, and loss in the poetry of Stevie Smith. In K. Kutzbach & M. Mueller (Eds.), The abject of desire: The aestheticization of the unaesthetic in contemporary literature and culture (pp. 197–218). Editions Rodopi B.V.
  4. Bell, G. (2016). ‘Such a death were sweet’: Invitingly deadly waters in the poems and drawings of Stevie Smith. Postgraduate English, 33(Autumn). Retrieved from www.dur.ac.uk/postgraduate.english
  5. Dick, K. (1971). Ivy & Stevie: Ivy Compton-Burnett and Stevie Smith: Conversations and reflections. Allison & Busby.
  6. Dickinson, E. (1994). The selected poems of Emily Dickinson. Wordsworth Editions.
  7. Dowsan, J. (1996). Ed. Women’s Poetry of the 1930s: A Critical Anthology. Routledge.
  8. Heidarzadegan, N. & Shareef, S. (2021). Death Wish in Poems of Anne Sexton and Stevie Smith. Atatürk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 25(4), 1626-1640. https://doi.org/10.53487/ataunisosbil.945378

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

July 1, 2025

Publication Date

June 30, 2025

Submission Date

February 26, 2025

Acceptance Date

March 29, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 19 Number: 1

APA
Uçar, A. S. (2025). Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 19(1), 199-211. https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1646961
AMA
1.Uçar AS. Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith. CUJHSS. 2025;19(1):199-211. doi:10.47777/cankujhss.1646961
Chicago
Uçar, Asya Sakine. 2025. “Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith”. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 19 (1): 199-211. https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1646961.
EndNote
Uçar AS (June 1, 2025) Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 19 1 199–211.
IEEE
[1]A. S. Uçar, “Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith”, CUJHSS, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 199–211, June 2025, doi: 10.47777/cankujhss.1646961.
ISNAD
Uçar, Asya Sakine. “Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith”. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 19/1 (June 1, 2025): 199-211. https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1646961.
JAMA
1.Uçar AS. Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith. CUJHSS. 2025;19:199–211.
MLA
Uçar, Asya Sakine. “Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith”. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 19, no. 1, June 2025, pp. 199-11, doi:10.47777/cankujhss.1646961.
Vancouver
1.Asya Sakine Uçar. Not Drowning But Drawing: The Defiant Vision Of Stevie Smith. CUJHSS. 2025 Jun. 1;19(1):199-211. doi:10.47777/cankujhss.1646961

Çankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
CUJHSS, e-ISSN 3062-0112