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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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 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.
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.
Very sensual- I can feel the taste of cold plums on my tongue…
It is really good.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
i believe that meaning is created through the interaction
of the poem and the reader himself.In other words,each person will analyze this poem according to his own perception.To me,this poem is about revenge … take a minute and think about it …
..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.
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 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.
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?
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 …..
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.
pussys not cool. They shit on my lawn den dey crap in my stove. Becase dere is a hole in my house. There two kind of pussy a pussy cat n a pussy on a women they are bith bithces.
i have gravy in my pants so then my mom gives me mountain dew. i gave the dew to my grandma she drank it and died. then the frog in my uncles toilet had fungus on its crotch so they had to do a c-section. then my cat smoked a cigar and got addicted to yante. just then a plane came up and hit me in the noodles. i still cant belive that aaron bender had fender on his wender. -thats my poem, visit http://www.poemsareforlosers.com to see more