answered question
0
Votes
Votes
5
Answers
Answers
M$1.00
What is the poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" about?
Did you ask this question via Twitter?
We create a Mahalo account for everyone who asks a question via Twitter. Claim your Mahalo account
We create a Mahalo account for everyone who asks a question via Twitter. Claim your Mahalo account
answers (5)
In the eleventh grade, my English teacher tasked us with writing a one page essay on what The Red Wheelbarrow has to do with war. I diligently crafted a convoluted argument that relied on tenuous theories of symbolism to make the connection to war.
He then told us, after we turned the essays in, that the correct answer was "Nothing." I was pissed, and argued with him about it extensively... I even would bring it up when I saw him in the next couple years after I graduated.
But he was right. The poem is concerned with an unadorned aesthetic of concise imagery which suggests a detailed picture in few words. In this respect, it is comparable to the aesthetic of Japanese Haiku.
In simple english, The Red Wheelbarrow is about a Red Wheelbarrow. Here's a general tip: don't look for "hidden meanings" and the like in poetry. Always start by evaluating them for exactly what they are--a series of carefully chosen words.
He then told us, after we turned the essays in, that the correct answer was "Nothing." I was pissed, and argued with him about it extensively... I even would bring it up when I saw him in the next couple years after I graduated.
But he was right. The poem is concerned with an unadorned aesthetic of concise imagery which suggests a detailed picture in few words. In this respect, it is comparable to the aesthetic of Japanese Haiku.
In simple english, The Red Wheelbarrow is about a Red Wheelbarrow. Here's a general tip: don't look for "hidden meanings" and the like in poetry. Always start by evaluating them for exactly what they are--a series of carefully chosen words.
source(s):
years of experience as an armchair literary critic, and several misspent semesters as an English major.
years of experience as an armchair literary critic, and several misspent semesters as an English major.
It's about "a red wheel/barrow/glazed with rain/water/beside the white/chickens."
It represents author William Carlos Williams' desire to raise the individual "to some approximate co-extension with the universe...to refine, to clarify, to intensify that eternal moment in which we alone live".
Translation: It's just a wheelbarrow.
It represents author William Carlos Williams' desire to raise the individual "to some approximate co-extension with the universe...to refine, to clarify, to intensify that eternal moment in which we alone live".
Translation: It's just a wheelbarrow.
I think it means that often so much rides on one little thing. Be it a wheelbarrow or something else. The link below also gives some alternative answers.
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams focuses on the objective representation of an object, in line with the Imagist philosophy that was only ten years old at the time of the poem's publication.
I believe it is about your perspective on life. "So much depends" which is very open ended, means this red wheelbarrow could mean a lot to someone. There is much emphasis given to the word "glazed" in the fifth line, as it is the only word in the poem that can be said to carry an aesthetic meaning. You can essentially take this word, and think that no matter what condition the red wheelbarrow is in, whether it is glazed or not, that it means a lot to whatever someone would use this tool for.
The Red Wheelbarrow represents Williams' desire to raise the individual "to some approximate co-extension with the universe...to refine, to clarify, to intensify that eternal moment in which we alone live." He wanted to "escape from crude symbolism, the annihilation of strained associations, complicated ritualistic forms designed to separate work from reality". The first line of the poem is open-ended.
I believe it is about your perspective on life. "So much depends" which is very open ended, means this red wheelbarrow could mean a lot to someone. There is much emphasis given to the word "glazed" in the fifth line, as it is the only word in the poem that can be said to carry an aesthetic meaning. You can essentially take this word, and think that no matter what condition the red wheelbarrow is in, whether it is glazed or not, that it means a lot to whatever someone would use this tool for.
The Red Wheelbarrow represents Williams' desire to raise the individual "to some approximate co-extension with the universe...to refine, to clarify, to intensify that eternal moment in which we alone live." He wanted to "escape from crude symbolism, the annihilation of strained associations, complicated ritualistic forms designed to separate work from reality". The first line of the poem is open-ended.
The poem is about painting with words. The poem depends upon each line to create itself.
The way it's written makes you take in every detail, which lets you create the scene in your head. The breaking up of the lines also makes the poem dynamic, because your idea of the scene changes as you read through it.
It is purely real
The way it's written makes you take in every detail, which lets you create the scene in your head. The breaking up of the lines also makes the poem dynamic, because your idea of the scene changes as you read through it.
It is purely real
source(s):
http://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/poets/s_z/williams/wheelbarrow.htm
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/wcw-red-wheel.html
English Class
http://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/poets/s_z/williams/wheelbarrow.htm
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/wcw-red-wheel.html
English Class
Related questions
140 characters left
ask any question
