Argument: "The Red Wheelbarrow"

           On the surface of his poems, William Carlos Williams appears to be a simple commentator on the events that surround him. He never includes unnecessary descriptions in his work, and would always rather keep his poems as short and simple as possible. This often times gives the impression that there is no depth to his work, but this is not the case. As is evident with the poem “The Red Wheelbarrow”, William Carlos Williams meticulously chooses the proper language to give his concise poems deeper meaning.

The initial stanza of “The Red Wheelbarrow” is extremely crucial to the poem as a whole. Because there is no punctuation present in the poem, it is the stanza breaks that serve as the indicators of any division in the wording. Due to this, the first stanza serves as an indication of the format of all subsequent stanzas. The formatting scheme of this poem is rather simple, with three words in the first line of each stanza, followed by a single word in the second line. This is done completely intentionally by Williams to express the simplicity of the scene he is describing. The critic John Hollander comments on this as he states “[I]n twentieth-century verse, an enjambment can occur without interest in shock or abruptness as a mimetic effect by itself. . . . A paradigmatic case is from William Carlos Williams in a well-known poem which uses the device almost as if in a manifesto,” (Hollander).  Hollander explains here that Williams uses enjambment in this poem in a very modern fashion, often catching the reader off guard with the abrupt ending of the stanza. Along with this, the first stanza includes the words “So much depends upon”, as it stands to represent how so much depends upon each and every word of the poem.

Each subsequent stanza, after the first, serves to create an image in the mind of the reader. Although there is very little detail offered by Williams, a very detailed image is described. The adjective “red” stands out as it very simply explains the color directly, and serves to illuminate the setting. Along with that, each word in the second stanza contains a single syllable, including the end word “wheel”. These again add to the simplicity of the poem, keeping the language within the reach of readers of all ages. After this, the poem goes into further detail explaining, simply again, the rainwater that is still present on the wheelbarrow. Again in this stanza, each of the words in the first line are kept to a single syllable. This stanza serves to transform the image of the wheelbarrow that is initially described as more details about the scene are provided.

Finally, the fourth and final stanza of the poem offers some small details to complete the scene. By discussing the nearby chickens, Williams offers a familiar image to add to the picture already created in the mind of the reader. The color of the “white” chickens contrasts sharply with the red wheelbarrow described earlier. Again, in this case, Williams does not explicitly offer up a large amount of detail, but rather, just enough to allow the reader to see the same image. He offers the reference word “beside” so that the reader can give the wheelbarrow a tangible location in the setting that Williams has created. This final stanza includes a simple period at the end, so that the poem as a whole takes on the image of a passing thought one might have.

Although, at first this poem can seem to be nothing but a scene that Williams wishes to convey to the reader, the true meaning can be found deeper within the wording of the poem. Several key words were chosen by the author to convey the true message of this beautiful poem to anyone who reads it. The words wheelbarrow and rainwater are broken up in the poem for a very clear reason. This poem is not about the wheelbarrow itself, but rather, about breaking down everyday events into their pure and natural form. The image that Williams describes would normally be something that a common person would completely ignore. However, in this poem, Williams beautifully describes the scene, encouraging readers to do the same with any common scene in their own daily lives.

Initially this rather simple looking poem can appear to be meaningless and dull. But upon further inspection, a very deep and profound underlying meaning can be found. The word choice of William Carlos Williams exemplifies his talent and ability to create wondrous works of art from otherwise simple scenes. Williams’ role as a leading artist in the imagist movement is exemplified in his poem “The Red Wheelbarrow” as he elaborately conveys a prominent meaning utilizing nothing but simple and concise language.