Blog #9: Poem #5 of Poetry Response to _This Is Just To Say_ by William Carlos Williams

       For this next poetry response, I decided to read This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams which has proven to be an even bigger challenge than some of the other poems I've tried to decipher due to the fact it is a very short poem to begin with. It's form consists of three extremely short stanzas which made me read this poem quickly and suggested the speaker's agenda was to be concise and directly to the point. After reading the title first, I noticed how odd it was that the words "Is" and "To" were capitalized in the title because normally they are not, but here, Williams purposefully  did this. I think he emphasized these words to connect it to the overall voice of the speaker of the poem. By marking "Is" and "To" at the same level of importance in the title, Williams is making an even more declarative statement to emphasize whatever it is that just has to be said.  This relates to the poem because the speaker declares he knowlingly ate plums that he knew were not his and that he was sorry, but then stated in a matter of fact way that it was worth it anyway. While analyzing the form of this poem, I noticed how the first and last stanza have lines that alternate between three words and two words long each, but in the second stanza there is a break in that pattern where one line consists of only one word. This one worded line may demonstrate the importance of the word "saving" to the overall theme of the poem. The speaker who lets us know his thoughts and feelings through first person perspective, emphasizes this word "saving" and having the readers pause while reading to recognize either the value or lack of value in saving something for later, whether it be food or any other item. The third stanza it almost seems for a second that the speaker feels some remorse for his actions when he says "Forgive me", but immediately after goes on to give his own logical thought process for why he ate the plums emphasizing his point through the repetition of the word "so" when he says the plums were delicious because they were "so sweet and so cold". These sensory details help the speaker try to convey to the readers that he was justified in taking the plum from the other person who was saving the plum for later. I'm almost not sure whether the author is manipulating the speaker to feel arrogant and proud about stealing the plums or is the speaker supposed to sound sorry about his actions. When I picture the speaker, I picture some macho guy who deep down feels bad abut what he did and this poem is him secretly relieving himself of any guilt he may feel about stealing what he knew was not his. Overall, maybe the bigger picture of this poem was to convince people to enjoy the savor the moments was has in the present rather than saving pleasurable moments for the future when the future is never so clear as it may seem. The speaker was enjoying the plums, savioring the present, while the other person who was actually saving the plums for the future, missed out on them and will have to suffer because he waited too long to eat them.