Poetry Analysis ~ ‘The Red Wheelbarrow’ of Williams Carlos Williams ~ Aliyu Danladi
Pic: Aminu S Muhammad |
The Red Wheelbarrow
So
much depends
upon
A
red wheel
barrow
glazed
with rain
water
beside
the white
chickens.
The
Red Wheelbarrow is a beautiful and simple poem which, at a superficial level, depicts
"a red wheel barrow/glazed with rain water" beside some white
chickens. And yet the simplicity of the poem is misleading. As the first line
says, there is "so much" in it.
Structurally,
the poem is divided into four stanzas with two lines each. There is a
consistent alternation of three words and then one word in every stanza. In
terms of meter, there is no consistency; music is however achieved through the
soft vowel sounds in many of the words.
The
words in every stanza are arranged and line break employed in such a way to
give emphasis on some certain words. The words "wheelbarrow,"
"rainwater," and "chickens" receive stronger emphasis by
being modified with visually-appealing words; "red," "glazed with,"
and "white" respectively.
From
the first instance of reading, the phrase "so much depends upon,"
calls for our consideration, and then we are presented with the image of a
wheelbarrow, rainwater, and chickens respectively. Taking into account that the
chickens are the living things among the images presented, one may question why
they were not mentioned first. What depended so much on the wheelbarrow that it
was mentioned first?
This
poem was written in the 20th Century, a time when the wheelbarrow was more an important
farming implement than it is today. It was used to transport harvest from farms
to households. In light of this, the wheelbarrow may be having so much
depending upon it because it was used to transport the grain that the chickens
live on. Another thing that consolidates the importance of the wheelbarrow as a
farming implement is that, it is "glazed with rainwater," which is an
essential of agriculture. The rainwater, glazed on the wheelbarrow, also
outlines its beauty. Maybe it had finished raining and we could see the glimpse
of sunlight upon the rainwater on the red wheelbarrow. But rainwater, aside
from being an essential of agriculture, serves as the main source of water in
the world. And to survive those chickens must drink water.
As
such, despite being the only living things, we find the chickens at the receiving
end of the services of the wheelbarrow and rainwater. Possible, that's why they
were mentioned last.
Thus,
we have seen that so much, including survival, depends upon some little things.
********
Aliyu Danladi is
a student at Bayero University, Kano, where he participates in Students’
Unionism. Born in Gombe state, he writes poems, literary reviews and articles
related to politics and national issues.
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