The Red Wheelbarrow

In an era in which serious poetry seemed an expression of the intellect and geared toward eliciting robust and animated discussion, Williams’ poem suggests the power not of the intellect but of the imagination—the subtler energy each person has to respond at unexpected moments to the simple beauties all around.

The poem, in its simplicity and its directness, is an invitation to stay alert for those unexpected moments when a random gathering of things becomes miraculous for one moment. The poem resists the notion that things must mean something, teach a lesson, or serve as backdrop for an important human interaction. Things in literature are typically compelled to act, to exert some force, and to add the texture of verisimilitude; things typically carry the weight of symbolism or create immediacy by creating a context. Thus, it is tempting here to assume that the things in Williams’ poem must symbolize something deeper; for example, the wheelbarrow might symbolize a farm; the white might symbolize innocence; the chickens might symbolize life; and the rain water might symbolize baptism—the next step would be to assemble these interpretative bits into a broad thematic argument. However, in this case, doing that would neglect the most potent energy Williams celebrates: the imagination. Within the energy of the unleashed imagination, the stuff strewn transcends the limits of shape, color, weight, and texture. The imagination finds in this accidental and random glimpse something worth noting, shaping into a poem, and remembering into art.