Read the following line from "Not Waving but Drowning."

Question

"Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead"

a. detached
b. pleased
c. objective
d. critical
NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING
Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

I've been struggling with this question for two days now. I ruled out b. but I'm stuck. If you read it with different tones, it can sometimes seem critical, and sometimes it seems objective and sometimes it seems detatched!

"Poor chap" seems sympathetic but "And now he's dead" seems cold. So it's kind of detatched, but kind of not.

Objective is 'he loved to frollick and now he's dead. Shame.'

You could also say that larking isn't very noteworthy or a good way to spend one's time, so the speaker could be saying "he deserved it for always goofing off, the poor fool."

Basically, I'm all over and I need help getting to the real answer because I tend to come at questions with multiple answers.

Answer 1

I agree that your question and answer choices are confusing. I'll vote for c. objective.

However, please check back here to see if another tutor has a different interpretation.

Answer 2

I agree with Ms. Sue. The choices are confusing. C does seem the most likely answer.