“The Red Wheelbarrow ” review
The poem is an example of imagist poetry, where the speaker uses simple language and ordinary objects to convey in-depth, vivid descriptions to the reader. William Carlos only uses sixteen words focusing on a red wheelbarrow in a farm, but makes the poem to be more of sentimental meditation while using ordinary objects. The speaker’s choice of words increases a sense of wonder to the reader. For example, the wheelbarrow is not only wet but “glazed with rain water” and not just beside chickens but “white chickens” this gives the ordinary objects used in the poem a deeper poetic meaning.
“The Red Wheelbarrow” has a meditative tone. The poet achieves this by stretching one sentence over several lines. Therefore, when the reader goes through the poem, he/she has to slow down and meditate the deeper meaning just as the poet wants. The opening line “so much depends upon” sets the poem’s tone as at the end of it all; the reader realizes “so much depends upon” the wheelbarrow.
Imagism first appears in the second stanza when the speaker states the color of the wheelbarrow. The red color can be used as a symbol of distress. In reality, if you consider the life of distress that a wheelbarrow goes through on a farm, then the color perfectly suits. The red wheelbarrow in this context, therefore, symbolizes a person living a life of distress. The wheelbarrow is “glazed with rain water” the wheelbarrow was left out in the rain, this is one example of the hardship it faces. At the same time, the rain symbolizes cleansing, therefore giving hope for a new beginning. By using double meaning for rain, the poet tries to explain to this person in the turmoil that the hardship in life can also have positive impacts; the sun will shine again after the rain.