upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
- Williams Carlos Williams
This poem is simple yet meaningful. The opening lines set the tone for the rest of the poem. Since the poem is composed of one sentence broken up at various intervals, it is truthful to say that "so much depends upon" each line of the poem. This is so because the form of the poem is also its meaning. This may seem confusing, but by the end of the poem the image of the wheelbarrow is seen as the actual poem, as in a painting when one sees an image of an apple, the apple represents an actual object in reality, but since it is part of a painting the apple also becomes the actual piece of art. These lines are also important because they introduce the idea that "so much depends upon" the wheelbarrow. There is also alot of symbolism in the poem. The image of the red wheelbarrow is pretty darn powerful. We see it very clearly in our minds, and all our speaker has to do to paint the image for us is to tell that it is a "red wheelbarrow." If that isn't magic, we don't know what is. William does a great job in creating a vivid image in our minds of the picture of what the poem is trying to get us to imagine. I really like the simplicity and straight forwardness of the poem. It kind of represents me as a person, very straight forward and simple. One of the themes of this poem is Man and the Natural World. We see a harmonious relationship between an manmade object (reflective of the human world) and nature. The red wheelbarrow sits unused and neglected, while rain seems to wash it clean and make it look brand spanking new. Chickens hang out with the wheelbarrow and keep it company. It almost seems like this wheelbarrow is part of nature. The absence of humans in this scene makes us feel the wheelbarrow's loneliness and makes us appreciate nature for paying attention to the wheelbarrow. (Source: http://www.shmoop.com/red-wheelbarrow/man-the-natural-world-theme.html)
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