for help yet no one responds because they think he is just fooling around. Also note that the man makes a realization that he was too far out all [his] life just before he died, which is symbolic for the way he lived his life (line 11). The theme depicted here exaggerates the fact that people could be misleading in their actions and that they are not always what they seem. The man misleading to everyone makes them think that he just likes fooling around even though he is actually trying to get help while, ironically, he drowns away to ([s]till . . . lay moaning) cold and alone (line 10).The author of this poem would not be able to effectively present the situation of the literally drowning man progressing to how he is drowning throughout his life in the non-literal context. Without the use of imperfect rhyme, irony, symbolism, persona, alliteration, tone, and theme the poet would have clearly had the daunting task of conveying her message to us with rather unfamiliar and impossible alternative methods. The poets method instead allows her to fully express the true experience of a melancholy and humorously comedic approach to death and inevitably her own extinction as well as our own (Sternlicht 95)....
