-is there such thing as right answer to this?

[RealMS]

Poetry has no right or wrong answers, I'm kind of aware of that saying, but is there a deeper meaning behind this poem? What is he saying besides the obvious? I mean, is this an extended metaphor?

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

We came across this poem as well as some others a few months ago and this still puzzles me when I think of it. The opening line is the most significant, but I don't know. My teacher said that his intention was not to make the reader think ambiguously, but being me-I had to question that. How do you know? (I think I insulted her by that. If I were to ask you, would you be lol?) I guess she thought I was questioning her intelligence but really her knowledge. :shrugs on that:

Am I making sense to anyone who is reading this?

[Brit Boi Gee]

I cannot grasp that which is the 'dependant' centre of this poem. 'Red 'seems significant, but maybe not. The barrows job is to carry and transport things, so the emphasis could be on its use, but if that is so, the proceeding lines 'glazed with rain water' and particularly the 'chicken's reference casts the mind away from any connections which the beginning of the poem gave the reader if they strained their eye and intellect enough. If I was asked to offer a meaning to this piece without any prior knowledge, I would say that it was simply a personal recollection from memory.

[Philly_215]

i remember this from like middle school i didn't get it then althou my teach explained it some what like Britt i still could get it.

shit i don't get it now either i may not be appling my self thou

[Brit Boi Gee]

I think that some poems cannot be 'got' as it were in the sense that every poem has a centre that everyone should be able to grasp to make it a complete. Sometimes a person can witness an event or feelings (or both) which mean a great deal to them but to others it is missed because they dont have a personal enough connection with that person. Whether poems like this are good or bad is another thing all together.

[Philly_215]

yeah cause if he used a car jack i would be see this joint eye to eye but a wheel barrow um i can't relate as i think i should

[Brit Boi Gee]

Originally Posted by Philly_215

yeah cause if he used a car jack i would be see this joint eye to eye but a wheel barrow um i can't relate as i think i should

Well, dont always think that the reason you cannot grasp a poem's meaning is because you do not have the x-ray intellect to see through it. Sometimes it isn't there to see, so be open to that possibility. A similar example I can give is when a person picks up a book and struggles to read it immediately thinking their lack of comprehension must be a fault of their own. So be careful of both.

peace

[Philly_215]

yeah i guess i would have to adust to his style like i did to many poets on this site. but still i have read that many times and still never got it. aside from the fact that around that time nothing on a farm would have been easy or possilbe for the most part with out the wheel borrrow

[RealMS]

I kinda felt confused by it, but after reading it so many times repeatedly I took it for what it was. My first time reading this was this year in english class. But-I can also see it as a metaphor. The red wheel barrow being a grandmother, the backbone to family. Anyone who is like that in your family. You know what I mean. Or it can mean so much depends upon a human being. We make our choices, we deal with the consequences-good or bad. We are persecuted either way-but its still our decision on how we handle things.

Thank you Brit, I can always count on you for things like this, or a good conversation!

-Much Love yall

[skandelous_lala]

Originally Posted by Brit Boi Gee

I think that some poems cannot be 'got' as it were in the sense that every poem has a centre that everyone should be able to grasp to make it a complete. Sometimes a person can witness an event or feelings (or both) which mean a great deal to them but to others it is missed because they dont have a personal enough connection with that person. Whether poems like this are good or bad is another thing all together.

Well said!