Helen Chasin the Word Plum

Helen Chasin the Word Plum, is exploring the way in which diction, tone, and symbolism, and both visual and oral images combine to produce an explosion of the senses. The way that the poem is organized is to be read out loud and felt with all of your senses. Helen intended for every pause to feel as though you were analyzing a plum in your very own hand as if you yourself were eating one with each and every bold description of its vivid color and round circumference. There are only three things that poetry are required to reach the eye the ears and the heart/mind. The surest way to reach the heart or mind of the reader is through the ear so word choice must be bold and selective. The word Plum uses simple onomatopoeias to be read out loud and be heard and at the same time be visualized for what they are. Helen reproduces sounds of life and then personifies them through human beings.

Sounds and word choices that are chosen by the poet are what establish a particular type of tone or mood for the poem. If this type of poem were read inside of the readers head rather than out loud the reader would miss the full intent of the poem. I feel like Helen wanted the reader to feel comfortable she used words that were all familiar with and would commonly use when describing a fruit that we are eating. People connect with things that are familiar to them by human nature by undressing simplistic words making them stand alone and speak for themselves she does so much for us. When things are given to us in a blunter manor rather the explained in grave detail it tends to have a bigger impact on us. For example when someone is trying to let people know there is a fire they simply just yell fire and everyone jumps into action the person doesn’t go on describing who’s in there and how it happened because they want an immediate response. In the same token Helen wants an immediate response from all of your senses.

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