If Williams Carlos Williams was anything more than a
physician, a career which spanned over more than 40 years and as an aesthetic
artist which brought him much fame as one of the most distinguished modern
American poets, he was a revolutionary and a radical leftist. His most popular
poem, “the red wheelbarrow” is the living evidence of it.
Born in New Jersey to an Puerto Rican immigrants in 1883
and his formative years much influenced by the new surge of communism across
the United States in the beginning of 1900’s and spending numbers of time among
middle and lower class people, he became an ardent follower of Marxism. In the
year 1923, when he was 40, he did justice to his generative stage and his
ideology by calling up for a revolution through his famous “the red wheelbarrow”
poem which he believed would bring change in the life of poor and unfortunate
people that he love. Indications are clear if one look and discern his poem in
general and synonymous manner.
so
much depends
upon
a
red wheel
barrow
glazed
with rain
rain
beside
the white
chickens.
Williams deliberately wrote all the poem’s words in
simple and lower case which divulges his endeavor to relate and identify these
with ordinary masses. Even though so much has written, analyzed and admired his
poem as laden with meter, enjambment and other literature terms, one should not
be carried away by the beauty of these and fail to appreciate his real
intention of composing this poem with well-chosen, limited and condensed with
double meaning words. Unlike the rest of the poem, the first two stanza “so
much depend” and “upon” do not have identical meaning other than stress and
importance of words themselves. However, in the next part, “a red wheel” and “
barrow” the author choose red as this color equals with communism and intentionally separate the wheel and barrow in
disguise of enjambment to give double meaning to wheel which also means revolution. The third couplet, “glazed
with rain” and “water” he also gives double edge meaning to glaze as it also
means cover and rain equates with flood and torrent, which means
overwhelmed by oppression. In the last verses, “beside the white” and “chickens”
the white color connotes successful beginning
while chickens to the masses, which makes sense because chickens are the most
abundant and abused animals in our realm.
Essentially, the poem mirrors Williams’ aspiration for
his lofty dream: revolution from people
who were discriminated by the system of society. He successfully wrote down his
call for revolution.
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