Question

Topic #1: What type of Imagery does William Carlos Williams use in his poem "The Red Wheelbarrow"? Do his images influence your interpretation of the poem?

Answer 1

Imagery used in “The Red Wheelbarrow” represents the relationship between humans and nature. The image of the wheelbarrow serves as a component between the hard working life of man, and the load he is sometimes forced to carry. As the wheelbarrow rests it is “glazed with rain water” and surrounded by “the white chickens”. Youngber Need more of a knock-out here. A sense of bringing all the images together. Deal with the chickens Prepare the reader for this shift to the critic—a simple “also” would work Look at the way these sentences all begin the same way—when you find that you have 3 sentences in a row all beginning article, noun, verb try inverting your sentences Interesting word choice be sure to explain it,neither of these imagery paragraphs use the Sweet piece; yet, it applies. The authors argue that the presentation of images—like a still life painting force the reader to deal with them as separate and then connected parts of a whole.Awk wording nice in text citation diction is not alive and thus cannot use anything explain and elaborate on this more good observation but continue to support it—examine the structure. Not a great konice. Correct use of lines in a poem correct use of this within the poem You are not ready for the critic yet, because you have not established the symbolism for yourself.

You must put your ideas first—why only two colors? How are the colors significant? How might the rain be important symbolically? After you have dealt with those items, then you may go into the critics.

The dissection of this poem must begin with the wheelbarrow, as it is in the title and the center of the poem (and also because each stanza looks like a wheelbarrow). I propose that the wheelbarrow symbolizes work and labor. Williams is saying that so much depends upon hard work and labor! More specifically, the wheelbarrow represents the working class.

Not only does much depend upon the wheelbarrow, but the wheelbarrow is glazed with rainwater. It is not hard to imagine this glaze of rainwater as a glaze of sweat on the back of the working man. So what's the deal with the white chickens? They stand beside the wheelbarrow, and nothing depends upon them in this situation. It is also easy to imagine them strutting about as chickens do. These "white" chickens are "white" collar workers.

If the chickens are white collar workers, the wheelbarrow represents blue collar workers. We are assured this because the rain is the wheelbarrow's blue collar. The introduction of this blue collar concept strikes another realization; the poem contains references to red, white, and blue. This allusion to America's colors confirms that William Carlos Williams is saying America depends upon the working class.

The message of the poem should be taking shape, but we are missing one element. Every color stands not only for America but also for their own specific message. What does red stand for them? Red ties the message of this poem together by symbolizing Williams' political party: communist. Through a simple metaphor and incredibly short poem, Williams is able to convey his political view that the working class is under-appreciated and white collar workers are over-appreciated.