This Is Just To Say Poem Analysis

Myrna Pena-Reyes’ “Breaking Through” and William Carlos William’s “This is Just to Say” expresses the relationship of the persona with another person through the use of different figurative devices. In “Breaking Through”, we see the persona as the daughter and the “you” in the poem as her father. Meanwhile, in the poem “This is Just to Say”, the persona of the poem is the husband, while the “you” in the poem refers to his wife. These two poems present a similar conflict – the persona is remorseful because of his or her action that has made the other person upset. Additionally, the revelation of the persona’s feelings of guilt was presented towards the end for both of these poems. However, the dramatic situation in “Breaking Through” and “This is Just to Say” are somehow different; “Breaking Through” talks about a daughter realizing the reason as to why the upbringing of her father was strict, only after they were apart from each other, while “This is Just to Say” talks about a husband asking for his wife’s forgiveness, because of the fact that he ate the plums that she was saving for breakfast. Nevertheless, a person’s relationship towards other …show more content…
However, William reveals their present situation by only showing what the husband has done that made his wife upset, without showing what their past relationship was like. It is evident through the title of the poem, “This is Just to Say”, which tells the reader that the author just wishes to say something, and nothing else. The title is also very simple and straightforward, which is similar to how William presents the current situation of the persona’s relationship. Additionally, the length of the poem is very short compared to Pena-Reyes’ “Breaking Through”, which adds to the simplicity and straightforwardness of the poem towards its main