Just Plummy

This Is Just To Say (by 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

________________________

This poem is one that makes people laugh and shake their heads - something so simple is included

in just about every American literature textbook? But there is more to it than initially meets the eye.

It's an imagist poem written without rhyme, punctuation, or virtually any meter. The stanzas are roughly 

alexandrine, which means they each have 12 syllables.

But what does it mean? For your response, I'd like you to read between the lines. Who is the speaker? 

To whom is he/she speaking? What is their relationship like? From the very few details in the poem, 

describe their personalities. Is there any significance to the plums? What about the adjectives used to 

describe them: "delicious/so sweet/and so cold"?

Please write this response before you read any outside commentary. After you write, you can add 

outside analysis if you want.

This poems is widely parodied--apparently it was a meme on Twitter.  Try your hand at a William Carlos Williams 

parody at the end of your paragraph; try to keep it to roughly 12 syllables/verse to match the feel of the 

original. Here's mine:

I deleted 

the soccer game 

you DVR'd 

and that you were 

planning to watch

on the weekend 

forgive me

soccer's boring

and we're 

Americans