William Carlos Williams

William Carlos Williams

To A Poor Old Woman

munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand 

They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her

You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand 

Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her

Period and Dates: Modernist, 1934-1935 near time of Great Depression

In this poem Williams clearly describes a rather poor woman eating a plum. He uses American free verse, which he was one of the first to use. This is very characteristic of the Modern period because the poets didn’t use previous conventions, they simply invented their own. He repeats the line, “They taste good to her,” and breaks the lines randomly and uses lots of enjambment. Each line break with this phrase helps the poet to convey a different meaning other than just that the plums taste good to the woman. Also in the poem the poet focuses largely on the plum rather than the woman. This is also characteristic of modern poetry; it usually does not address an individual just an object. I believe the meaning of the poem is somewhat about this woman savoring a plum and how much it means to her, because she is poor and in a difficult time.