This brief nature of this poem by William Carlos Williams makes poignant diction a must. The short, crisp descriptions give the reader a complete view of the instance at hand, in spite of the length. The speaker wastes no time, beginning the poem with a candid confession, "[he] has eaten the plums that were in the icebox." No excuses, just straightforward diction. This frank tone continues into the second stanza as the speaker admits to knowing those were the plums that his wife "[was] probably saving for breakfast. The tone is conveyed so clearly thanks to the diction. There are no flashy adjectives, adverbs, or other modifiers to contaminate the honest confession. The first time the audience even sees descriptive adjectives is in the last stanza, describing the plums as "delicious so sweet and so cold." This continues the honest tone as if the speaker just wants to put it all on the table; maybe if they were good enough, his eating the plums would be justified, conveying the thought that yes, eating the plums was wrong, but at least they were good. Considering the poem on the whole, the simple diction allows the reader to sympathize with the speaker. Without formal diction or syntax this poem could be coming from a little kid. The reader can easily imagine a little child coming to his mom and apologizing for such a trivial crime, yet we understand the speaker as a grown man at the same time feeling empathy towards him and understanding his justification behind his actions.
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