This Is Just To Say Summary & Analysis
by William Carlos Williams

This Is Just To Say Summary & Analysis
by William Carlos Williams

Question about this poem?
Have a question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
Have a specific question about this poem?
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
A LitCharts expert can help.
Ask us
Ask us
Ask a question
Ask a question
Ask a question

William Carlos Williams published "This Is Just To Say" in 1934. In the poem, the speaker confesses to having sneakily eaten plums from an icebox (a kind of precursor to the modern refrigerator). Because of its casual style, some readers believe it was originally written as a note from Williams to his wife. While the poem certainly can be read as being symbolic—of broad thematic ideas related to temptation, guilt, the Garden of Eden, and so forth—it also might simply be a lovely celebration of life's simple pleasures. A prominent figure of modernist poetry in the United States, Williams was associated with the Imagist movement, which championed the use of clear language and an appreciation of ordinary scenes and images. Although Williams had moved on from this artistic approach by the time he published "This Is Just To Say," the poem's celebration of the joys of eating plums exemplifies the simplicity of Imagism.

Get
Get
LitCharts
Get the entire guide to “This Is Just To Say” as a printable PDF.
Download