To Elsie

“This Is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams (1934)

This is arguably Williams’s most famous poem. It originally appeared alongside “To Elsie” in the collection Spring and All. The poem’s speaker leaves a pithy, comical note to a presumed loved one on a refrigerator, in which the speaker apologizes for eating the plums the loved one was most likely saving for breakfast. Despite the poem’s surface-level simplicity and humor, it’s been studied extensively by critics and endlessly parodied by poets and other artists. Like “To Elsie,” “This is Just to Say” addresses someone else and, with its ending, suggests there’s more to be said on the subject at hand. This short poem is also a departure from “To Elsie” in that it presents its subject matter through humor.

“America” by Allen Ginsberg (1956)

Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) shot to fame with the 1956 publication of “Howl,” a revolutionary poem that challenged American politics and social mores, uprooted traditional poetics, and led to its publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s arrest and trial for obscenity charges. Ginsberg’s name is now synonymous with the Beat movement and counterculture, and his image remains part of pop culture despite later accusations against Ginsberg for selling out by becoming a part of the establishment (he began teaching via professorships and taking on speaking engagements).