This Is Just To Say By William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams is known for writing ‘A Red Wheelbarrow’ in 1923, an iconic poem during the modernist movement. He is also known for writing small, yet simple and powerful pieces of literature such as the poem ‘This Is Just To Say’ written in 1934. Although the poem is short and to the point, there is a lot going on in this poem more than meets the readers eye. Most of the poem is very literal and some of it is left for the readers imagination and creativity to see what williams see’s as he wrote the poem. The language he chooses to use is simple and straightforward, very short and crisp. Williams explores the themes guilt and choices through structure, imagery, and setting.

The title of the poem is “This Is Just To Say”. The title
does a seamless transition to the poem itself. If it is read aloud it sounds like just one long phrase, “This Is Just To Say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox..” The title is fitting to the whole of the poem which is refreshing, following the main theme of the modernist era of “making it new.” Williams does sets this underlying theme up from the get go, making this an enjoyable and easy reading.

The structure of the poem is set up into three stanzas each containing four lines. There is no rhyme scheme or rhythm in it leaving it in free verse form. Each stanza having four lines contain few words. Each line has no more than three words and no less than one. This creates a nice short, crisp, and simple read.
Williams wrote the poem without punctuation. This is noticed right from the beginning where no commas or periods are found. One place in poem indicates a break which is in stanza three where “Forgive” is the only word capitalized. The capitalization is emphasis on the guilt that was felt when he wrote this poem for who the plums belonged to. He then proceeds to tell the person that although he is sorry he wants the person to know just how he enjoyed the plums “delicious..so sweet and so cold..”
The first stanza sets up the scene of the whole poem. Williams gives us the setting in an instant. He is referring to some plums that were in an icebox. Assuming that the language is kept simple throughout the poem we can infer that the icebox is actually some kind of refrigerator, thus creating the setting in a kitchen.
The second stanza shows that the action had a consequence of after thoughts, one of which would be that the plums in the icebox had been for someone else. This stanza leads to the fact that this sounds like its directed to someone else other than the reader. We can only assume that he is talking to his spouse about having eaten the plums that were originally hers. Through the first and second stanza he is conscious of his actions and realizes the potential consequences. Through these stanzas the reader can anticipate some kind of climax towards the end something that would just put the icing on the cake.
The third stanza is Williams coming to the final afterthought of his actions which is guilt. Although he is apologetic to the person the plums belonged to, he continues to further excite the situation by letting this person know just how satisfying the plums were. The joy having eaten the plums overpowered the guilt in less than a moment.
The poem is written in short phrases due to the situation in the poem. The guilt has come into his mind about eating the plums, therefore he knows he should be considerate and let the person know what’s happened. It is never an easy task to give bad news in this case unfavorable news. Williams writes this in the fewest words possible to get the same point across. It is evident that there were thoughts and emotion that went into each line almost like tiptoeing through a land mine carefully and not overthinking it. The structure alone shows the themes of choice and guilt.

Williams shows the themes through imagery as well.
Even though the poem is short and fast, there are moments within each stanza that make each scene illuminated. In the first stanza we can visualize a fruit drawer or bowl sitting the icebox. We can see that they had been sitting there all night long until someone came into the kitchen and took them out. Alot of the imagery is left for the reader to assume and create because the phrases are so short, which makes it fun. They would probably be dark purple and very round lying on top of one another.
In the second stanza there is point where the speaker already had the plums set out on a counter and he was ready to devour them. Referring back to the structure each line is almost the same rhythm of taking bites and chewing. This makes a lot of sense considering the speaker made the choice to eat the plums and not until after he was finished did the feeling of guilt become onset. Each line feels like a mental pondering to how he should apologize while he is still chewing on the delicious plums.
It is not until the third stanza where he finally says “Forgive me..” showing the reader that he is guilty and apologetic.Towards the end though, the speaker offers his apology but wants the person to know just how enjoyable and delicious the plums
were.

The setting is another device Williams uses to show the themes of choices and guilt. In the beginning the setting is clearly a kitchen early in the morning, sun beams peaking through the kitchen window illuminating a note on the refrigerator. Everything is still and there is no movement but only in the poem itself. The movement is comparable to eyes moving from left to right reading top to bottom like a note. Before the note had been written is when we are able to see more movement such as when Williams was eating, enjoying, savoring each bite of the plums before we went about his day and left someone without breakfast. Considering this sounds like a small note left on the icebox, Williams does an excellent job showing the themes of guilt and choice through the setting by there being a point in time where he was in the kitchen and then he wasn't, much like the plums. There is guilt literally written in the poem even though there is a bit of humor inside of it. The humor acts like the coldness and sweetness of the plums that he had eaten.

William Carlos Williams wrote “This Is Just To Say” as an apology note. The poem happens to be straightforward with minimal underlying meaning. Everything is literal in the poem down to the description of the plums. Williams shows the themes of guilt and choices through setting, imagery and structure. The poem is written in clear diction making it possible to understand the themes and the humor in it.