urthonaessays.com
“The Red Wheelbarrow” *
By William Carlos Williams, 1883 – 1963
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
Submitted by Lee Morgan of Ocean Grove:
Lee says, “William Carlos Williams was gifted at painting images with his poetry. After reading it again this evening I wonder if Williams felt an interconnectedness of all things as he observed the world.”
*”The Red Wheelbarrow” was first published in Williams’ 1923 book Spring and All.
Editor’s note by Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net, Ocean Grove, NJ:
Williams was a practicing pediatrician in my hometown of Rutherford, New Jersey when I was attending Rutherford schools. But, unfortunately, I never heard of him then.
Charles Pierre told me that there were other writers who were physicians including Oliver Wendell Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Michael Crichton.
I never understood this poem, but Lee says it is about imagery, as in painting images with words. OK, that is understandable, but, as with all poetry, there’s probably more there there.
What do you think? What about the opening sentence: “So much depends upon….” Anybody out there?
Read the comment below by “Blind Pursuit.” It is excellent. He is from Ocean Grove. —Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT: “Elisa’s Theme” from the movie score of The Shape of Water.