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, meaning and summary of William Carlos Williams's poem This Is Just To Say
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Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by William Carlos Williams better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
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 was about this all junk crap in my shorts and this dumb fool sold his wife on e-bay
what if the poem was about rape.
does it still “suck”?
i think it’s pretty genius.
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
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 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.
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.
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 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.
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 is
just to say This is
a Love Poem
A verbal hug A written kindness
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..
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.
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!
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
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!
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
Just want to say BRAVO for the nice poem.Keep it up.
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.
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.
.. 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.