Lewis
Zachary Lewis
Prof. Najarian
ENGL 1102
10 November 2018
Extended Analysis of This is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams
The poem This is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams is a free verse poem. Many of Williams’ poems are short free verse poems which seem simple to the naked eye. The poem itself flows well and each line is short and to the point. The basic understanding of the poem is a man ate someone else’s plums from the icebox. He asks for forgiveness, as they were delightful. The description of “so sweet and so cold” gives the audience a sense of taste and feel, as I could imagine myself biting into a juicy fruit straight out of the refrigerator[footnoteRef:13655]. I can feel the smooth skin of the plum and I understand why he would eat the man’s breakfast. [13655: William Carlos Williams, This is Just To Say, Poets.org. July 05, 2016.]
Williams’ poems were written in many different time periods ranging from the 1910s to the 1960s. This is Just To Say however, was written in a time of depression, in 1934. The stock market had crashed, and little did he know that we were on the brink of World War II[footnoteRef:19757]. In a way, this poem gave people a sense of hope for a simpler life without the sorrows from the failing economy. Williams’ poem was the light in the dark that the Americans needed at the time. Instead of worrying about how you will feed your family in the depression, the only thing there was to worry about was your friend eating your plums that you saved for the next morning. People wanted a simple life again and Williams portrayed that in his 1934 poem. [19757: Gene Smiley, “Great Depression” The Library of Economics and Liberty.]
Since the poem’s language and form are simple, with a regular rhythm[footnoteRef:17866]. This allows for different analytic takes on the poem itself. Today I feel like there is a different mean...
