William Carlos Williams
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
Further Readings:
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/william-carlos-williams
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-carlos-williams
This poem is short and sweet, yet it posses very good imagrey. It sais, "I have eaten
ReplyDeletethe plums
that were in
the icebox" I thought this was very well written imagery. I could easily tell where and what the plums where doing in the ice box. It allowed my brain to create a story about plums and somebody saying sorry because they where cold. I enjoyed this poem because poetry can be about anything and it does not have to be write correctly or mean anything at all. All it has to do it provoke something and this short poem does.
The title of William Carlos Williams’s This Is Just To Say explains the narrator’s purpose in the poem. When reading it, I imagine a child emptily confessing their deeds to someone else. Williams is able to tell a story in three short stanzas. This story is innocent and simple, yet very descriptive. The last stanza “Forgive me/ they were delicious/ so sweet/ and so cold,” (Lines 9-12) is packed with visual and gustatory imagery. Williams’s choice of words make the readers feel the pleasure the narrator received by eating the plums he describes earlier.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Carlos William’s poem, “This is Just To Say”, is spoken from the point of view of a young boy who is apologizing to his mother or older sister. This poem gives me the image of a fond summer memory, a time of innocence, when William’s only worries were that he had eaten the plums in the icebox. Other than that, there is very little meaning to this poem, and I feel it does not deserve all the fame it has received.
ReplyDeleteThe poem "This is Just to Say" by William Carlos William contains great visual imagery that allows readers to envision the "delicious, cold" plum. When I look at the poem, I imagine one sibling confessing what they've done to another sibling. In the last lines, "Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold" remind me of something my little sister would say to me after she ate something I told her not to. She would say sorry, and then she would say something to annoy me like bragging how good it tasted. It seems like a little kid who felt proud, but also apologetic for eating something they weren't supposed to.
ReplyDeleteI believe that William Carlos Williams wrote this poem to simply convey an innocent apology. One can tell from the context that it could be a child that is apologizing for eating the plums. The plums could possibly be a motif that represent something but because of the lack of context it suggests that they are simply just plums. William Carlos Williams did not use much diction in his poem. There was some imagery such as "forgive me/ they were delicious/ so sweet/ and so cold" which gives the reader an idea of what the plums looked like.
ReplyDeleteAlthough "This is just to say" is a very short poem, the imagery it illustrates evokes a strong sense of what holding and eating these plums actually feels like. The short story told in this poem brings to mind a young, innocent boy on a warm summer's day eating the coldest thing he can find- the plums. In lines 7-9, the speaker apologizes for not being able to resist him temptation of taking the delicious plums, "Forgive me/ they were delicious/ so sweet/ and so cold." These lines show the reader the childishness of the speaker as children are often unable to control themselves. This poem evokes the feelings of joy and harmlessness associated with children.
ReplyDelete"This is just to say" by William Carlos Williams expresses strong imagery and brings a sense of memory. The imagery allows the reader to feel as if they are in Williams's shoes, and can sense the feelings and tastes of this hot summer day. It reminds the reader of the sensation from eating cold, delicious plums that they just could not resist. It seems to be some sort of apology for eating the plums, but he does not regret his actions because the outcome was so great. The title of the poem helps express the feeling even more. "This is just to say", or apologizing for his actions, but not really feeling apologetic. This poem simulates a strong feeling of uncontrollable feelings and allows the reader have similar feelings to the narrator bas off of the strong imagery.
ReplyDeleteThe poem, "This is Just to Say," conveys an apologetic message. The audience that it is written for is most likely the person who's plums they ate. The imagery painted puts the reader in a summer setting and gives a satisfying feeling from the tenderness of the plums. Meter and rhythm can give a lot away about the simplicity of the poem, the short and sweet stanzas indicate it was most likely referring to the point of view of a little kid.
ReplyDelete“This Is Just To Say” is unique in the sense that it has little imagery. There is no theme. However, there is intention. Williams puts no extraneous details in this poem, simply because he does not have a need to. His intention is to be relatable, and this situation is one that would drown in drawn-out stanzas of imagery and excessive motifs. It evokes a humorous mood while concisely describing the plums. While neither are expressed through long passages, the conciseness works in its own way to form a mood that comes only from the short verse. Well-written poetry achieves the incitation of emotion in the reader, regardless of the style by which it was written. “This Is Just To Say” is a prime example of this. The lack of detail also lends itself to this goal, as it allows the reader to filling in any missing imagery with details which apply directly to himself. My experience of eating plums may be much different than another’s, making the poem even more geared towards recalling a particular experience. There is indeed beauty in this ambiguous style, however it is not my personal preference.
ReplyDelete"This is Just to Say" is a very short and sweet poem. When reading it, I imagined it to be the summer and juicy plums sitting in an icebox are being waited to be eaten until morning. But, someone has already gotten to them and had eaten them. The author, William Carlos Williams, did a great job on imagery and the tile makes the reader think a little bit more.
ReplyDeleteThis peculiar poem by William Carlos Williams evokes a sense of the incredibly mundane and domestic. It is written just as a note casually left on the refrigerator might be. It is very short, and has no rhyme scheme or metric pattern to it. Most importantly, its subject matter is incredibly insignificant. It is simply a note left to the house’s other inhabitant, apologizing for devouring the plums that they had been saving for themselves. While this poem may seem very domestic and even rather pointless, it is intensely so; the sense it conveys of an insignificant, domestic, non-event, a small guilty pleasure in which the author partook, slightly mischievous, but in an endearing sort of way, is quite strong.
ReplyDelete"This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams is a touch and feel poem. By this I that when reading this poem, you can see the icebox and can taste the delicious, sweet and cold plums. I don't think this is imagery so much as descriptive writing that, very literally, draws the reader in and allows him to touch and feel as the speaker in this story does. There isn't much information that the reader gets from this poem, other than the speaker has just eaten some plums and has a friend, whose plums he has just eaten. Too much information in this poem would take away from the simplicity that allows such a connection between the reader and the speaker, and would make this poem less of a "sweet read".
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ReplyDelete"This is just to say" by William Carlos Williams is a short and intriguing poem. It is almost as it is just a short not left on the table just apologizing for eating the very tempting, cold plums. I can picture the handwriting of young child with an apology stating that they will not ever take something that was not theirs again. This poem to me feels like the story of Adam and Eve. They were forebidden to take a bite out of the apple, however Eve was tempted and did so. They had to pay for their consequences and when they passed away, God did not dwell in their souls.
ReplyDelete"This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams give a very small look at an aspect of human nature. At first the brevity and mundane nature of the topic might deter readers from reading into the words too much. For other readers, such a terse masterpiece might just be egging them on to dive into the meter and verse. The complexity of this piece is in its simplicity. Williams creates such a small world and he leaves the blanks to be filled in. He leaves so much of it to be interpreted from such a small act so many are familiar with. This man takes something which was not meant for him. Why did he take it? Was it justified? What will the consequences be? Will there be any consequences? The purpose of this poem is to have these blanks filled in.
ReplyDelete"This is Just to Say" by William Carlos Williams uses its simplicity to express its message. It is written lightheartedly, conveying innocence and playfulness. In my interpretation, Williams is trying to say that everyone makes mistakes, and not to take them too seriously. Besides the imagery in the last stanza that describes the cold and delicious plums, the poem lacks the complex literary devices seen in others. This is not necessarily a negative thing, but rather something that adds to its uniqueness.
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