A reading of The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams.
Here is the poem.
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
——
OK, I’ll break this down via form, and meaning. Not to say this is what was intended by Mr. Williams, but this is how I’m looking it, so take it as you will.
——
Form: Syllabically the poem is structured, line by line: 4/2 - 3/2 - 3/2 - 4/2. That’s only 22 syllables total. Remember that. The middle two stanzas break a compound word at the line break, without a hyphen. Very short poem, very tightly structured.
——
Meaning: OK, it’s imagistic. It’s minimalistic. The last three stanzas set the scene. We see the red wheelbarrow, that it is out in the rain, and that there are chickens. So much depends upon the words “So much depends / upon” in this poem. You can bring literary theory about the symbolism of rain, or color theory with the red, but in my mind those are less important. The first stanza, that’s another story. Why would so much depend upon a wheelbarrow? What do we know about, well, anything, in the universe of this poem, but what do we know of the location, the world? We know there are chickens and a wheelbarrow. Where would you find those two things? A farm is my guess. Why would so much depend on the wheelbarrow? What is a wheelbarrow to a farmer? A necessity. A farmer needs a wheelbarrow to complete his tasks, maintain his livelihood, his very life. Thus, so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rainwater beside the white chickens.