Analysis Of This Is Just To Say

“This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams is a twenty-eight-word poem that expresses author’s true thought and feeling about the actual eating of the plums. The simplicity of the poem gives readers a false impression that the poem somehow is related to the Bible story, because those words, such as “the plums”, “Forgive me” and “So sweet and so cold”, forces the readers to make a stronger association with the story of Adam and Eve falling from the Garden of Eden, the readers have always seeking for a deeper meaning in the poem, rather than simply enjoy the poem from reading. Traditionally, in order to call a set of words a poetry, the poem must have some potential meanings and metaphors other than its surface meaning of the words, but “This Is Just To Say” by William overturns those poetry’s rule, restriction, and rhyme scheme, and argues that a simple poem can be written to celebrate a true feeling of a simple joy of everyday life.

By using the colloquial language in the title, the author not only gives the readers a sense of expression that the poem seems more like a message which a note would normally start with those words, but also wants to convey his true thought and feeling throughout the poem just by what he states in here. For instance, “Just” reveals that the author has planned a general guideline for the audiences to comprehend the poem, and suggests that the poem has no deeper meaning- “just saying”. Not only has the title set the tone for the poem, but also creates a new question for readers to think what the author really means in the upcoming content, catches the reader’s interest and makes a smooth transition to the next