The poem
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox
and which you were probably saving for breakfast
Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold
This Is Just To Say
Analysis
This Is Just To Say: analysis
Introduction
"This Is Just To Say" reads like a note left in a kitchen. The speaker has eaten the plums from the icebox. Someone else was "probably / saving" them for breakfast.
The note confesses, asks forgiveness, and then describes how good the plums were. That last turn is the heart of the poem. The apology and the pleasure sit side by side. Readers still argue over whether the speaker is sorry at all, and over what the plums might stand for.
Summary
The first stanza is a confession. The speaker says, "I have eaten / the plums". It then says where they were: "in / the icebox". The stanza states the act plainly, with no excuse and no sign yet of who will read it.
The second stanza adds what the speaker knew. The plums were ones "which / you were probably / saving / for breakfast". The speaker addresses "you" directly for the first time. The word "probably" shows the speaker guessed the other person's plan. The stanza shows the act was done with some awareness of that plan.
The third stanza begins with a request: "Forgive me". It then gives a reason, or at least a description. The plums, the speaker says, "were delicious" to eat. They were "so sweet / and so cold". The poem ends on the word "cold", with no full stop and no signature from the writer.
Themes and meaning
The main theme is the apology that is not quite an apology. The speaker asks "Forgive me", and the very next line says "they were delicious". The second half of the stanza relishes the plums rather than regrets them. The poem can be read as a sincere apology with an honest confession of pleasure. It can also be read as a teasing note from someone not really sorry.
A second theme is temptation and pleasure. The speaker knew the plums were meant for someone else. The speaker ate them anyway. The closing words, "so sweet / and so cold", give the reason in the language of the senses. On this reading the poem is about how hard it is to resist a small pleasure.
A third theme is intimacy. The note assumes a shared home and a shared icebox. The speaker knows what "you" planned for breakfast. The tone expects forgiveness, which suggests a close and secure relationship. The poem never says who "you" is, and readers often fill in a spouse or partner.
The poem also raises the question of what a poem is. It looks like an everyday note, written in the plainest words. Yet it is set out in careful lines and stanzas, and it carries a title. The poem suggests that ordinary speech, arranged with care, can hold feeling and meaning.
Tone
The tone is intimate, casual and playful. The speaker writes as someone at ease with the reader. The words are simple, and there is no fuss.
The tone shifts within the last stanza. "Forgive me" is a moment of real or mock contrition. Then the tone warms into pleasure: "they were delicious / so sweet". The repeated "so" sounds almost dreamy, as if the speaker is still tasting the plums.
The result is a tone that mixes guilt with delight. Whether the delight outweighs the guilt is left to the reader. Many hear affection and humour rather than true remorse.
Form and structure
The poem has 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The lines are very short, from 2 to 5 syllables. There is no regular metre and no rhyme scheme.
The poem uses no punctuation at all. The only capital letters are in "I" and "Forgive", which begins the last stanza. The whole poem is two long sentences broken into small pieces. Many lines end mid-phrase, as in "that were in" and "which". The breaks slow a quick note into a series of careful pauses.
Poetic devices
- plain diction line 1
I have eaten
The poem opens with a bare confession. The simple words set the tone of a note, not a formal poem.- enjambment line 3
that were in
The line ends on a preposition. The break delays the place, "the icebox", and slows the confession.- direct address line 6
you were probably
The speaker speaks to "you" for the first time. "probably" shows the speaker guessed the plan and ate the plums anyway.- isolated word line 7
saving
The verb fills a line alone. It stresses that the plums were being kept for later.- imperative line 9
Forgive me
The only capitalised word apart from "I". The request marks the turn from confession to apology.- irony line 10
they were delicious
Right after asking forgiveness, the speaker praises the plums. The praise undercuts the apology.- repetition line 11
so sweet
"so" repeats in line 12. The repetition lingers on the pleasure of the plums.- sensory imagery line 12
and so cold
Taste gives way to touch and temperature. The last word leaves the reader with the chill of the fruit.
Words worth knowing
- icebox
- A cupboard kept cool with blocks of ice. The word is still sometimes used for a refrigerator.
- probably
- Likely but not certain. It shows the speaker guessing at the other person's plans.
Context
"This Is Just To Say" is by William Carlos Williams (1883–1963). It has been on americanpoems.com since 2003 and was a Poem of the Day on November 22, 2008. Readers have left 90 comments on it, from 2004 to 2023.
What readers have said
- Glynis hears love in the note, a writer who knows the reader will forgive and simply could not resist the fruit. Glynis, 2007
- Jenn Webb reads the apology as insincere, since the speaker's description of the plums shows no real sorrow. Jenn Webb, 2006
- dohr suggests the plums tasted so good because they were forbidden fruit, being saved for someone else. dohr, 2006
- Brandon Block reads it as about giving in to temptation and wondering whether that is really so wrong. Brandon Block, 2005
- nolan notes that the only capitalised word besides I is Forgive, and takes forgiveness as the main theme. nolan, 2006
- Nathan Dornbrook infers from the words alone that the writer shares an icebox with the reader and knows the reader's breakfast plans. Nathan Dornbrook, 2006
Keep reading
Discover more of William Carlos Williams’s poetry.
Readers
Reader discussion 90 comments
- Readers
- 89
- Stanzas quoted
- 3of 3
- Most quoted
- “Forgive me”3 readers
- Longest reading
- Nathan Dornbrook348 words
.. to explain to your wife that you've eaten all of the plums. Apparently this was scribbled for her on a napkin when she found it. I, personally would be thrilled if my husband wrote me things like that.
I recently read a rebuttal by the wife to the effect of "you pissed me off one too many times now move out". It was in a collection called "Good Poems" collected and introduced by Garrison Keillor.
William Carlos Williams had an uncanny skill for making something of an everyday nature seem so delicate and important; it is like everything matters to him, everything affects him. I want to feel like that.
Just want to say BRAVO for the nice poem.Keep it up.
I do not understand what this poem is trying to say. For some reason i get the feeling it has a super deep meaning or some kind of sexual connotations. But it is cool anyways. It adds a little bit of mystery
I found the poem to have a deeper meaning than what you see on the page. I feel that the speaker is not only apologizing for the eaten plums, but for all of the wrongful things he has done to his spouse. I sincerely hoped for him to come home that afternoon with a bagful of plums fresh out of an icebox!
WEIRD!!! i was assigned to do a report on Williams. I cant figure him out. but why cant i be famous for writing something like that? first come first surve i guess. i think that maybe theres something in his poems that he doesnt say, but what he doesnt say could make everything make sence. maybe he left it up to us to put in the missing link. its a mystery. we'll never know what he was thinking when he wrote
this poem isnt meant to be profound! he's a imagist for crying out loud! but i just love this poem. it is meant to evoke an emotion!
I am doing an assignment for literature where I had to choose three Williams' poems and analyze and describe the meaning. I enjoy reading Williams. His poems gives visual pictures while you are reading which makes easier to analyze. This is a great one.
I think this poem is about the person's greed and selfishness and how after thinking about it, he is sorry for what he did. He took the plums even though they belonged to someone else.. I'm not sure I find this poet quite confusing..
This is
just to say This is
a Love Poem
A verbal hug A written kindness
This might be Williams'own way of differentiating his poems and setting among other American poets. Americans don't eat plums for break fast.Where goes cherriors, milk, french toast?.He has travelled and look at things different.Howver he might have eaten plums that were reserved for breakfast by his partner and which is something he loves.That could be his own way of letting her know she better figure out something else for breakfast.
This poem is a very simple love poem, and like all WCW poems, he sets the picture in the minds of the reader. YOu can see him going to the fridge, eating the plums, then remembering they were his wife's plums. Then he sits down at the kitchen table, lifts a pen and a napkin and writes his apology in the best way he knows.... a poem. A simple love poem. To Brodie Bruce: you may say "why cant i be famous for writing…
Read the whole commentThis poem is a very simple love poem, and like all WCW poems, he sets the picture in the minds of the reader. YOu can see him going to the fridge, eating the plums, then remembering they were his wife's plums. Then he sits down at the kitchen table, lifts a pen and a napkin and writes his apology in the best way he knows.... a poem. A simple love poem.
To Brodie Bruce: you may say "why cant i be famous for writing something like that?" Well the fact is, you didn't write it. WCW pushes the boundries of language in his poetry, and most poets are too scared to do that. It's like there's some invisible way to write poetry, and there's not. I mean, if you wrote something truely from the heart, not worrying about the apparent way poetry should be written I have no doubt you'd be famous for it.
Went looking for this poem on line yesterday after a staff member left a bag of cookies in our lounge with a simple note that read "These are fig newtons. Enjoy." Reminded me of this poem.....
This poem is neither deep nor good. Poetry sucks. I wrote the stupidest poem ever and was a Regional Winner in the National Poetry Contest. Just goes to show you that people need to get a hold of themselves.
to the commentor who suggested that this is the perfect exemplar of why all poetry sucks, i wonder if you could try to look to the relationship suggested by those simple words. it tells of two whole lives, if you are willing to imagine them. the speaker who's sly and sweet, and gets his way because of his ability with words. the "you" in the poem, wife, or roommate, or whomever, who is perhaps happily resigned to…
Read the whole commentto the commentor who suggested that this is the perfect exemplar of why all poetry sucks, i wonder if you could try to look to the relationship suggested by those simple words. it tells of two whole lives, if you are willing to imagine them. the speaker who's sly and sweet, and gets his way because of his ability with words. the "you" in the poem, wife, or roommate, or whomever, who is perhaps happily resigned to life with someone as gifted and selfish as the speaker. at least he's grateful. he loved the plums so much he wrote poetry about them. it'd be too hard to stay mad at a guy like that. besides, Williams was writing at the same time as guys like T.S. Eliot whose best works were written in four and five different languages (all in one poem.) this guy, in contrast, was trying to show little corners of life that were simple, but significant. and he used simple but significant words to get that across. congrats on your poetry award. may you live to deserve it.
i agree with dani this poem dosn't have a profound meening its just there and if u like it or dont thats your problem, me personaly......i like it
what if the poem was about rape.
does it still "suck"?
i think it's pretty genius.
it was about this all junk crap in my shorts and this dumb fool sold his wife on e-bay
fat people are like crap in my shorts. they have hair on their butts. i saw this one fat perosn so i sold them on e-bay and i got a hundred bucks! cletis is in my tithole
It's simply a beautiful poem and has been one of my favorites for years. Out of all the poetry I've read over the years, I can remember very few, but this one and The Red Wheelbarrow, are vivid in mind after all these years. That must mean something about good writing.
today,we have an exam about this poem.i wrote this on my paper,the author's condition is very poor he had to eat the plums satisfied him hungry....i found sometimes my imagination is too well i take it too seriously,after read it several times,i get a better thinking.the author just can not resist the sweet of the plums despite he knew he was wrong if he enjoy it,but somehow he did.jsut like sometimes we indulge ourselves too,even we know .....
Every great literacy work has a higher order meaning. The theme of this poem really lies in the last 2 lines. The ending means 'so sweet and yet so cold'. Could it be that the receiver of the note has been 'saving' the forbidden fruit', which is a common biblical image in western literature?
To those numerous comentors that say this poem is crap i feel you are ignorant, un-educated and lack vision. Which seems to be most of the American population. You say your from andorra or algeria but i know better. I apologise to all those americans out there that aren't like your general population for saying what i'm saying because i know it's you that are carrying the succes of american literature, you are the…
Read the whole commentTo those numerous comentors that say this poem is crap i feel you are ignorant, un-educated and lack vision. Which seems to be most of the American population. You say your from andorra or algeria but i know better. I apologise to all those americans out there that aren't like your general population for saying what i'm saying because i know it's you that are carrying the succes of american literature, you are the appreciators. Why go on to a site about poetry to say it's crap? That's rediculous. Anyway about the poem. A simple poem that yet could mean so many things, so many things. i think it's a work of art it's so simple and trivial at first glance but then you just think about it i cant get it out of my head, all the things it could mean, all the images it invokes. Sometimes the shortest and simplest of things are really the ones that hold the most value.
..you look at the poem so literally. i think this is about a husband eating his wife's plums. i think this is about someone who was pained by someone else's indifference, to put it lightly. this is obvious in the why the last word, which is 'cold', resonates when you read the poem. the word icebox supports this, as well as the choice of plum.
americans don't eat plums for breakfast, as you said.well, plum was used here to signify pain, because as you may know, the color of plum is purple, which connotes a dark, sad feeling.
It's about temptation and giving in to it, and Williams really wondering if that is such a bad thing. Maybe the moments we give into temptation are those stolen illicit moments in which we are most alive. So it's about plums (luscious perfection), and restraint (the key to a successful marriage and domestic harmony), perhaps the yearning toward adultery, and the desire for forgiveness by someone who isn't quite sure it's truly wrong to succumb to his desires. After all,life is only lived once and the plums "were delicious, so sweet and so cold."
SEX. This poem is about sex, and arguably about taking a girls virginity and how a man feels afterwards. Men feel sorry for taking such a sweetness, but we do it anyways.
i think this poem, william wrote to apologize to his wife or his friend that he made some mistake to them. william has used short words and short sentences to the readers can understand easily.
I think that this poem is in fact a simple love poem. The "forgive me" is ironic because he knows his wife/partner will not be angry at him. He knows that she loves him and his apology is not sincere. The imagist form of the peom helps highlight the fact that this note is a token of love from a man to his loved one.
If you really think about the meaning if this poem, it really is one of the romantic and fabulous poems I have ever had the privilege of reading.
Agreed -- this poem is really terribly romantic. The teasing tone is what really gets to me. I imagine that this is from one spouse to his wife/partner of many years -- to be able to flirt and tease after lots of time is just wonderful.
And what kills me is that you know the spouse is probably happy that he enjoyed the plums.
It is simple, yet beautiful.
Just a note apologizing.
Like if you forgot to get your
love a valentine gift, you softley
ask for forgiveness, with a tear.
It is really good.
Very sensual- I can feel the taste of cold plums on my tongue...
i think it is an appolagize for a partner,but not as simple as it looks.i think it is full of a big regression that floods out of its words.
i believe this poem to be an apology from one lover to another. The meaning to this poem is hidden beneath the simple words which Williams uses very specifically. He is clearing his conscience, confessing he made a mistake but has no regrets about doing what he did.
Well I totally disagree with the eating thing and I the poem is totally metaphoric and symbolic though very simple words were usued. I don't think it conveys pain at all, he's merely apologizing to his wife/lover in a nice way.
I think this poem is about a pain because no one eat plum for breakfast . there is nothing to eat . Because he is hungry he took the plum without permetion
I think the poem is based on Fruedian theory. The plums which were being saved for breakfast are really a womens virginity (she was saving it for marrage). He apologizes for taking her virginity by asking for forgiveness. It was "so sweet and so cold" because as a virgin it felt so good to him but at the same time so cold because he took something she was saving. Her virginity was something only one man could have.
everyone who says this poem sucks is just showing how sorry they are for themselves for not being able to express how they feel using simple words and have it come out so beautiful.
having said that, I love this poem.
i think this poem is to show that he is sorry for what he has done. because what he had done was not right. so he is apologizing to someone he hurted.!
i don't understand why you all feel the need to make it into a love story. why can't it just be a guy apoligizing? i don't take like he's actually sorry for eating the plums he's just apoligizing in a sing-song kind of voice because it's better than not apoligizing at all.
totally love it! what a man ....making a poem out of a note he probably left on his fridge for his wife! hard to say whether he really thought about how it could be interpreted...but all the same... what a poem!
You know what this poem is simple it's just him confessing about a mistake it's nothing a dumbass couldnt see.He expresses himself with simple words thats why i love this poet so much(not that way).And having that said i think this has got to be the best peom he wrote.
This is a really good poem. It has a really sad and depressed side to it, but it is fun. No one better email me just because I am THE Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance!!!!!
I love this poem. This it the poem that really started me on poetry.
I think its about rape, or someone stealing someone else virginity, while, yes, he feels remorse. He still craves more.
This poem does have a certain beauty in its simplicity, but if it is intended as a metaphor for the loss of virginity it is less than successful. The speaker has initiated action independently, and clearly without the consent of the plums' owner. Therefore, if the poem is about the loss of virginity, it is about a rape. However, the first stanza is a simple declaration - and if the poem is an apology for a rape,…
Read the whole commentThis poem does have a certain beauty in its simplicity, but if it is intended as a metaphor for the loss of virginity it is less than successful. The speaker has initiated action independently, and clearly without the consent of the plums' owner. Therefore, if the poem is about the loss of virginity, it is about a rape. However, the first stanza is a simple declaration - and if the poem is an apology for a rape, there would be no need to inform the woman that she had been raped.
The outside reader, of course, would need to know, but the same information could be conveyed much more artfully by the omission of much of the first stanza, leaving something like this:
You were probably
saving your
plums in the icebox
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet, and
so cold
No, there is no metaphor of lost virginity in the poem. It is, as mentioned in previous posts, the transformation of a simple, everyday event into a simple poem, whose beauty comes from its very simplicity.
My only critique of the poem, as such, comes from the facile nature of such writing. A rectangle is beautiful in its simplicity, but it takes no great skill to draw one - simple poems are much the same.
This is Just to Say
I have been
searching
through your poem
for meaning
but I
have been unable
to find it
Forgive me, William
if I think
your poem
senseless
50 posts and only once is the idea of "forbidden fruit" invoked. This suprises me, as it seems pretty obvious.
What made the plums so delicious? I have eaten plums, and while they can be tasty, i have never felt compelled to share my plum experiances with the world. Could the fact that these plums were being saved for some other purpose have fueled Williams' enjoyment of them? Eating plums is one experiance, but eating forbidden fruit is something different.
this is a great poem i think everyone should read it.. it awesome.
this good poem. i read this in 12th grade. me really good at reading poem.
The greatest thing about being a critic, is that you're never wrong. Poetry is not about method, it's about feeling. The greatest poem touches the heart, escaping the mind' which rapes it's purity. This is just to say...........escaped my mind, almost touching my heart. Almost.
Forget the contents of the poem and focus more on the concept of it. The poem is like an apologetic theory or algorithm that can be applied to any kind of apology or repentance. The contents itself focus more on visual elements - the poem being from the visual era. When you read it, you picture the plums in your 'minds eye' the adjectives sweet and cold, also provoke your imaginative stimuli. Was this analysis to deep? The product of deep analysis leads to misinterpretation and is not always the correct answer. Keep it simple. All that rubbish about sacred fruit and virginity? I mean really.......
i hate plums but this poem makes me want to eat one and u people talkin about sacred fruit gimme a break u guys must have your heads up your ... thinkin that one up
if there is any symbolism in this note about eating someone's plums, it is edenic. the plums are the forbidden fruit, the taste and feel are the temptation(snake), and the ultimate forgiver is god. personally i think he just spaced a note awkwardly and called it a poem. (its just a sentence with white space)
also the only word capitalized other than I is "Forgive" which shows that forgiveness is probably the most important theme in the poem.
This poem really caught my attention! I think it is very weird but also great :) ...free verse is so good. I recommend to read EE Cummings-I carry your heart (thats my favorit)...
The simplicity of William's crime, eating the plums, just exeplifies the lack of sincerity in the apology. He was probably trying to show how apologies are more of execuses than anything else. The speaker isn't sorry he ate the plums, which is obvious in his description of them, but he probably doesn't want his friend mad at him. Maybe William's was sick of getting lame apologies so he wrote this simple poem...
There is a wealth of information we can infer directly from the words of the poem, without having to resort to WCW's Imagist inclinations or his latent Socialism. We know, for instance, that the author of the note expects it to be read and soon - he has some sort of relationship to the reader that allows them to share access to the icebox. We know that the author has enough information about the reader that he knows…
Read the whole commentThere is a wealth of information we can infer directly from the words of the poem, without having to resort to WCW's Imagist inclinations or his latent Socialism.
We know, for instance, that the author of the note expects it to be read and soon - he has some sort of relationship to the reader that allows them to share access to the icebox. We know that the author has enough information about the reader that he knows what she was thinking about having for breakfast.
There are some questions that the poem begs - Why would a genuinely contrite plum-thief describe how much joy his larcenous perfidy brought him? If he's not genuinely contrite - and I submit that he is not sorry at all - then why leave a note? Why start it so cavalierly? If he and the intended recipient were so close as to share an icebox and therefore likely a home, would the pilfered plums really be a noteworthy issue?
I suggest that this is the last note from one lover to another. Either the man is leaving her for another woman or she's discovered a faithless indiscretion and chucked him out and he's decided to go like a barbed hook.
A note such as this could be devestating - subtle and incisive.
It says: "I want you to know it was me. I did this. And I did it to you. I knew when I did it that you didn't want it to happen. And I loved it."
The ambiguity of the plum reference is, in my opinion, intentional. By forcing the reader to consider and reconsider the crime of the stolen fruit, it forces her to ask who is both sweet and cold? "Is it me?" she might ask. "Am I sweet but cold? Is the other woman sweet but cold? Was he sweet but cold?" These thoughts would be a puzzle providing continuous temptation to draw the reader into thinking about the event again and again, like a stone skipping over a lake of cold realisation that he is GONE.
this poem is just awsome, just a few words, a commonpace situation , a note on the fridge...and this feeling of trangression, this is just lustful! he apologies but doesn't regret at the same time.simple words but the right ones, I pictured myself,facing this huge white frige with note stuck on it...
Read "Variations on a theme by William Carlos Williams" by Kenneth Koch...a wonderful parody! Just as simple/lovely as the original in its own twisted fashion.
I think it interesting how a few of the more recent posters attribute some malevolence to the narrator of this poem. I have loved this poem for a long time and that never ocurred to me. From the tone and the beautiful sensuality of it I have always had the impression that the note-writer and it's intended reader love each other very much, and that the writer knows the reader will forgive him. He just couldn't help…
Read the whole commentI think it interesting how a few of the more recent posters attribute some malevolence to the narrator of this poem. I have loved this poem for a long time and that never ocurred to me. From the tone and the beautiful sensuality of it I have always had the impression that the note-writer and it's intended reader love each other very much, and that the writer knows the reader will forgive him. He just couldn't help himself from eating the luscious fruit. She/he will understand, even though she probably wanted the fruit for herself, and be happy that he enjoyed it so. He owns up to what he did, though perhaps he coild have gotten away without that, and by so doing he shares some of his experience with her and so gives it back to her in a way.
I can't say that one interpretation is better than another, though I'll admit I like mine more!
This poem relates to me the importance of sharing; whether it be love between one another, or even fruit for a meal in the morning for the two or many. The author may be sorry he ate the fruit both of them would share, which brings up even more analytical points about lost love, lust, and abandonment but I don't wish to go into that.
This is a man who wants to be Forgiven though he is not sorry, but he I think he would not be hurt if his wife was angry with him.
Yeah!
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS IS A GOD YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
feel what the writer feels,I guess perhaps he just want to say"sorry"
I think this poem has to do with having sex that was supposed to be saved before marriage but was pleasing at that time.
i love this poem man
this is an imagist poem which means he was just trying to make you see a picture there is no deeper meaning!
I did this for English class and it is a representative of life!
Haven't you ever done something that you weren't supposed and that the person wouldn't appreciate? But you would do it again if you had to because of the rewards?
This is that type of situation. The poet says "forgive me", but does he really mean it?
You've all got it all wrong. This guy is talking about having an affair with somebody else's neglected wife. I've got an entire interpretation of it written down but it's not really... 'appropriate.'
Some of you guys are spending too much time reading into a "poem" by WCW that is just explaining a bit of fruit.
"This is just to say" clearly says that there is no hidden meaning...it's just a note to inform the intended that their breakfast was gone...
I think that we may juxtapose the guilt about eating the plums with the guilt about eating the apple of knowledge by Adam. In this sense, the person for whom the speaker had left the note may be seen as a "friend who understands"; God here would be seen as somebody distant and severe
I think this poem is about taking someone's innocence. And that person was saving it for marriage. And the speaker, is not really sorry.
I'll tell you what this poem is about.
It's about living in the moment. The narrator ate the plum which he knew that the "audience" was saving for breakfast. Instead of thinking about things and the audience's feelings, he decided to act in the moment and eat the plum. He didn't think about the consequences but just the feeling he had when he ate the plum-- "they were delicious/so sweet/and so cold."
The narrator accepts what he does not let it get it in his way by asking for forgiveness instead of hiding what he has done.
This poem is a call to people to live life in the moment and don't let good opportunities pass.
i have laughed
my heart out
from my
chest
and which
i couldnt stop
myself
they made me cry
forgive me
i could not
contain my
laughter!
I read the poem differently. To me it seemed terribly sad. It showed a marriage where all sentiment, love and regard has long since left. "I ate the plums. I assume you wanted them. They were good." Their entire relationship stripped down to petty acts and comments devoid of human feeling for a one time loved one.
It is difficult to analyze Though as Blake suggested, we may be able “to see a world in a grain of sand” I don’t think we can discuss the quality of Williams’ marriage on the evidence of a single poem. I realize it is difficult to analyze something as intimate as poetry, especially Williams’ poetry, without bringing along some of our own personal baggage. Yet I believe it is important to try and take his words at…
Read the whole commentIt is difficult to analyze Though as Blake suggested, we may be able “to see a world in a grain of sand” I don’t think we can discuss the quality of Williams’ marriage on the evidence of a single poem. I realize it is difficult to analyze something as intimate as poetry, especially Williams’ poetry, without bringing along some of our own personal baggage. Yet I believe it is important to try and take his words at face value. To my understanding, William Carlos Williams wanted most of all for us to see how every-day life and language is laden with beauty and richness. Perhaps I missed the poem where he tells how sad he is in his loveless marriage. What do we know if their relationship? Have we considered how his life as a physician impacts his poetry?
When I read this poem (out loud) I picture the Doctor called away before dawn, trying to get something to eat before heading off to the sickbed of some child. Does he wake his wife so she may prepare him breakfast? He does not. Does he snatch her breakfast and leave her nothing in return? Look again. He has left her the vivid image of his pleasure in the plums. He has asked for her forgiveness. He has left her a note, speaking of his actions… and his acceptance of the consequences.
To me, it is a love not. I wonder left how many notes like this he has left for his wife over the course of their marriage. I sense he is confident that this small transgression will be overlooked. He has given the women he loves a precious gift that I have noticed many men seem afraid to share… his attention, his ability to admit his error and ask forgiveness, and his willingness to communicate.
this is such a great poem. this was like a master pice. dskfduhdudjfjfrufju:2+
what is this poem about???? is there a real meaning???
I think the poem is not simple as it seems. It contains an imaginary components that gives clues about the poet's life. He is not regretful what he had done but in a way he doesn't want to be at odds with the "audience". And it kind of makes me angry. I understand, you ate them, but why are you telling that they were delicious?
I really liked this poem. Everybody can understand or interpret it in a different way. I think this is what is good about poems. They are consisting of just a few lines, but they are telling thousands of things, which can depend from person to person. This poem doesn't say the message in it directly and I think this is what is beautiful about it. By hiding the message, the author lets the reader to interpret it in…
Read the whole commentI really liked this poem. Everybody can understand or interpret it in a different way. I think this is what is good about poems. They are consisting of just a few lines, but they are telling thousands of things, which can depend from person to person. This poem doesn't say the message in it directly and I think this is what is beautiful about it. By hiding the message, the author lets the reader to interpret it in his or her own way. I don't think I need to talk about what I understood from the poem, because it is not so important. In my opinion, the important thing is receiving a secret message from the author by reading between the lines and letting other people to interpret the poem according to their own opinions and experiences without us analysing every letter deepy for them.
Different and Strange Analysis of the Poem by THE TAHA
Although it may sound like I am trying to be funny, this poem can be interpreted very differently than the usual "the husband cheats on the wife" way. It can be argued that, the man has been forced to eat the plums, or do whatever the plums symbolises, because his wife has been preventing him to access what he had done. His wife may be forcing him to fast, or she may be deceiving him, or even she may be the one who…
Read the whole commentAlthough it may sound like I am trying to be funny, this poem can be interpreted very differently than the usual "the husband cheats on the wife" way. It can be argued that, the man has been forced to eat the plums, or do whatever the plums symbolises, because his wife has been preventing him to access what he had done. His wife may be forcing him to fast, or she may be deceiving him, or even she may be the one who is cheating. However the situation is bad, the man still says that he is sorry for what he is doing, and it feels wrong, but he has to do it or else he will die - the lack of food and starvation is ended when he eats the plums. This comment may seem silly or even ridiculous, but I after I thought on this poem, I realized that it may be interpreted from another perspective.
for non-fiction
This is a poem which enables the readers to sympathize with the situation. It is a very simple poem, which talks about the appealing nature of plums and an apology for eating them. I think the plums can be the symbol for something stolen maybe, something very irresistible. Or it might symbolize doing something which is forbidden. Either way, the poet apologizes for what he've done, but does not regret it. I liked…
Read the whole commentThis is a poem which enables the readers to sympathize with the situation. It is a very simple poem, which talks about the appealing nature of plums and an apology for eating them. I think the plums can be the symbol for something stolen maybe, something very irresistible. Or it might symbolize doing something which is forbidden. Either way, the poet apologizes for what he've done, but does not regret it. I liked this poem because almost everybody can relate to it, we've all had moments in our life which we've done something wrong without any regret. The lack of punctuation also indicates the simplicity of the poem, along with making it sketch-like. Because it is not complicated and exaggerated, readers can relate to it even more.
response poem
Here is my response for nonfiction class...
This is Just to Try
I have torn
the fifth poem
that I wrote
in my notebook
and which
you would probably find
ridiculous
if you read
Forgive me Mr.Lovely
they were inefficacious
I was so tenderfeet
and unendowed
I also think this is a poem about forbidden things being more attracktive and pleasurable, even though they create a sense of guilt during and/or after the act itself. The narrator talks about how he couldn't resist to the plums in the icebox, how cold and delicious they are; so basically how pleasurable they are. Yet the plums are forbidden to him, because they are someone else's breakfast, or at least they belong to someone else. He eats them and discovers they are as good as they looked, but he feels the guilt afterwards. He says he knew he shouldn't have eaten them but that they were irresistibly good looking.
This is just to comment.
I enjoy reading it as if it was written to some random person, and not ME. I thought "the narrator in the poem is teasing the person mentioned". However, when i think of myself as the person whose plums are eaten, i feel used; somebody has eaten my plums. That depends on the person who has eaten them ofcourse. Every person can have a different perspective and interpretation of the poem- you maybe have more than one depending on the situation. As I put the message in my own words: take care of what you have, some thief may come and steal it from you. i wonder if you thought about yourselves while reading this poem? I didn't when i fisrt read it!
poem
this poem ROCKS
poetry analysis
I haven't read all comments re:this poem,but have PERSONALLY long regarded it as a private communication between Williams + his wife...left in a freakin' POST IT NOTE format!!!I believe he may be a genius in his "poetic genre",but to his wife,he was her "HUSBAND",less formal + this was prob. a literal,tongue-in-cheek note,showing HE didn't regard himself TOO SERIOUSLY!~!(Way too "OVERANALYZED" IMO!
Just a Poem
This is Just to Say is just a poem. It has been way overanalyzed. Did it ever occur to you that maybe he is just describing the plums? some obvious hints are: the title. THIS IS JUST TO SAY. He is just saying it, not giving us the answers to life. Second, his wife actually wrote a reply. Do you think that has some hidden meaning as well????
Poem
"This is Just To Say"
This poem did what poems should do make the reader feel something, or try to come up with what they think the poet is trying to tell you in a coded message. But their is no hidden message HE ate the plums. The plums was not for him to eat. He is now sorry to disapoint the owner of the plums.
The poem informs the parent of the person he just raped, and not the victim.