Not Waving but Drowning / Stevie Smith

Test Practice

Compare and Contrast

With your partner, discuss how to answer these questions about the selection.

1. In “Musée des Beaux Arts,” Auden suggests that human suffering goes unnoticed; the poem “Not Waving but Drowning”
a. shares a similar theme because the dying man’s troubles went unnoticed by his friends.
b. offers a contrasting point of view because the man’s friends are sad about his death.
c. illustrates that human suffering is all too obvious to most people.
d. shows that sometimes the Old Masters were wrong.


How does information you gather as you read help you eliminate incorrect answers?

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