poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

I think this is my favorite
williams poem
I can taste the plums

so good on this
hot day

Seems like a note left by the author to their loved-one.

Yes, that is what happens to plums when you put them in the ice-box. They get cold. Stupid stupid people -- who don't know enough to let them stay on the tree, or place them in a nice basket, or make jam, or cake, or wine -- stupid stupid horrid people.

I think williams is a fantastic poet because he cleverly applies a significant message within his simplicstic poems. for example our dependancy within life towards people and places(this is shown in "The red Wheelbarrow")

I think this idea is continued within "This is just to say" because it demonstrates the things we take for granted ie food, relationships.

how sweet and cold and delicious they were!

why does the speaker tell the plum owner how much he/she enjoyed them, especially since the plum owner was probably looking forward to eating them for breakfast? how cruel, how sadistic, how selfish!

can a verbal or written (i.e. poetry) description of the plums give the plum owner as much, or more, satisfaction than actually eating the plums? can love, or should love, ever achieve such a degree of selflessness that a plum owner can truly forgive a loved one for eating his/her plums and actually be pleased that the loved one has enjoyed a pleasure at the plum owner's expense???

i could go on and on. thus the magic of william's poem . . .

I think that William is trying to say that the person is a poor person and had to steal another persons breakfast, the plums, in order to keep from maybe starving.

Haven't you ever done something that was a little bit wrong (not necessarily evil or immoral or criminal, but just wrong) and relished it at the same time as regretting it? The speaker seems to have given in to an impulse to eat these perfect plums while knowing that the addressee probably had other plans for them. The speaker also seems to know that it is not a cardinal sin, but is apologizing not for the eating (which was clearly enjoyed) but for the inconvenience, the disruption of plans. This is consisten with the feeling of intimacy between the speaker and the addressee that the words imply.

When I first read this poem in class, I really didn't get it at all. I thought that there had to be something more than just face value. As we went over the poem in class, my professor said that it was in reference to virginity. She said that the "plums" were the girl's virginity and she was keeping them in her "icebox" and "saving them"---sort of like saving herself, or her virginity. And he took her virginity and said it was worth it, basically. I was just wondering what others thought on this take of a sexual innuendo. After I was exposed to this interpretation, I thought, "wow, that's pretty bad ass."

What I think about this poem is that he's using "plums" for something more, perhaps another woman he slept/dated with, and cheated on whoever he wrote the note for. Plums are seen as sexy, as are peaches, because they are both juicy and delicious and luscious (spelling?). If he would have just said "Sorry" instead of "Forgive me", the poem would have a completely different meaning. "Sorry" is just another term for "oops". You say sorry for stepping on someone's toe, or bumping into them. "Forgive me" has more of a meaning, is what you say when you truly mean it.

Relating back to this poem, I think the speaker of the poem is apologizing for saying he was weak, he could not resist the temptation. A truly great poem!

It's a mystery to me why WCW is even famous. I mean, who cares about some plums that he ate or that the chickens are near a wheelbarrow? Here's my little imitation of WCW:

The dishes
were so dirty

I filled the sink
with bubbly water

And washed them
With a sponge.