Talk:The Red Wheelbarrow

Background to this poem...

...I recall reading somewhere years ago that the real inspiration and background to this piece is that Dr. Williams was attending to a patient at the house where he observed the red wheelbarrow, white chickens, etc. The patient was a gravely ill young child, and having this knowledge gives the poem more depth than its surface meaning alone provides--although the poem is enjoyable with or without the knowledge of what prompted it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jnpoet (talk • contribs) 9 July 2006.

I remember my teacher talking about the colors of the poem, red for the wheelbarrow, white for the chickens and blue for the water (although water has no color, we associate it with blue), these are the colors of the american flag. Also there is a very inspiring essay right after this poem that throws out meaning side by side to this poem. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.203.67.113 (talk • contribs) 26 September 2006.

Is that reference to a horse's BRC supposed to be there or is that someone's idea of a joke? (If serious, it needs an apostrophe.) Myself, I always thought this poem was in the form of a medieval-style kenning riddle, the answer being "tongue in mouth surrounded by teeth". Asat 08:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

"The Red Wheelbarrow" skit on youtube by Bennetteam is the greatest thing ever and accurately portrays the background behind the poem. Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq7KHq-PZPI

Reading the poem, I could not help but ask what depends upon the red wheelbarrow and why the word wheelbarrow is a single word in the title and broken up in the poem. The best answers to these questions are: First, the poem is the only thing that truly relies upon the red wheelbarrow. Other things could go on without this wheelbarrow but the poem would not exist. This supports Willams belief in the matirial supporting the arts, in other words, there would be no art without objects. To answer the second question, the word wheelbarrow is broken up showing the final result of the four stanzas each looking like the profile of a wheelbarrow. 70.126.223.120 21:31, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

I hadn't even noticed that! Wow. Now THAT'S art. -BlueNight 14:33, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

A few points: "You can also see the wheelbarrow as a reference to the circle of life/death and the forces of creation or transformation (so much depends/upon), though it should be duly noted that one can also see the poem itself as a cheap fraud." What is meant by this last part? A fraud of what? This is perplexing without more detail.

"The poet may be claiming that, thanks to the creative power of living organisms, the existence of things as different as a poem (beside the white) or a chicken are made possible." This feels like a stretch. If nothing else the significance of 'glazed with rain/water' in this interpretation should be clarified. Talnova (talk) 19:50, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Stress

Simply reading the poem, I don't agree with the stress analysis presented on this page. I realize it comes from a published paper, but is there some alternative analysis out there? At least with the first line, I just can't imagine that it was meant to be read that way. 72.129.0.10 (talk) 09:36, 28 May 2008 (UTC)