William Carlos Williams The Red Wheelbarrow

In William Carlos Williams’ poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” he artistically paints a picture using words to depict a simple object that to some may appear mundane. Through his illustration the red wheelbarrow, which might otherwise be overlooked, becomes the focal point of his poem and the image he is creating for the reader. He paints the illusion through his writing style, use of color and word choices to remind the reader of the importance of a simple object, the wheelbarrow.

Williams’ minimalist writing style employed free verse and by maintaining simplicity allowed the wheelbarrow to be the center of attention. He accomplished this task by breaking up the poem, which consisted of one sentence, into eight lines and further divided it into couplets. The beginning line of each couplet was longer than the second line, which only had one word. This formation allowed the reader to focus on specific words before moving to the next line. This is best illustrated in the opening lines, “so much depends/upon,” (Williams 288). Already, Williams has established the importance of the object by conveying to the reader that many things are dependent on the object. It is also significant that none of the words in the poem are capitalized nor did Williams

The line, “glazed with rain,” (Williams 288) describes how the wheelbarrow looks. Glazed implies that is shiny and clean after having been doused with a fresh coating of rain. The next line, “water,” has been separated from the word rain. This can have many connotations. One implication may be the association that similar to life’s dependency upon water so too is a person dependent on a wheelbarrow. This is especially true since a wheelbarrow is used as a tool that helps people to transport things but like water is often taken for granted. Once again, Williams’ has chosen simple words to highlight the significance of the