William Carlos Williams is one of only two American poets who is commonly recognized outside of the United States. One of his most famous poems is titled "The Red Wheelbarrow." The majority of analyses focus on the imagery of this poem and fail to capture the symbolism. The poem is copied below.
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
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.
How shallow an analysis that just talks about this poem's imagery.
this is a hot take
ReplyDeleteI think that it so interesting that people know exactly what a poem means like they know exactly what the poet was thinking. I do not believe that the poem is political. How boring!!!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough an interesting take on the poem (especially the image of hard work and sweat), this analysis is a prime example of overthinking. For the chickens to symbolize white-collar workers, one would also have to take into consideration the more obvious, surface representation — that chickens mean sustenance and survival to those who work to keep and maintain them, quite opposite from the life-sucking, white-collars. The main theme of the poem is quite simply, simplicity itself and the importance of simple things (like a wheelbarrow). Even the poem is a symbol of itself, being constructed from a single sentence — with four quarters representing the whole. The theme was not meant to be over analyzed or to split hairs. It was written to be projected in the simplest fashion to display the simplest meaning — the meaning that is most prevalent and visible, without being cut up and dissected.
ReplyDeleteI am struck by the revelation of color "red" as a symbol of William's communism.
ReplyDelete