Summary
The poem begins with a statement of the importance of a red wheelbarrow. It then describes it being coated lightly in rain and in close proximity to a group of white chickens.
Analysis
With its brevity and precision, "The Red Wheelbarrow" is a poem concerned with the depiction of images. Through the use of extremely direct and tactile diction, Williams is able to convey the materiality of the objects he writes about. The wheelbarrow, rainwater, and white chickens he includes in the short poem are shown without decoration or overwrought comparison. Like photographs, these images are able to stand exactly as they are.
The poem begins with its only abstraction ("so much depends / upon") before offering its clipped description of the wheelbarrow ("a red wheel / barrow"). Taken together, these first two stanzas are a comment on the wheelbarrow's importance: "so much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow." These lines show the wheelbarrow's literal dependability as a transportation vehicle for farm and gardening materials, and they also set up the rest of the poem. As the reader will come to discover in the next two sections, the wheelbarrow also situates the other images in space. They are defined by their relation to the wheelbarrow. In this way, these images come to be part of the "so much" that "depends" upon the wheelbarrow. It literally provides context for where they are and what they are doing around it. Williams is remarking on the wheelbarrow's value as a practical tool, as well as its centrality in the poem's constellation of images.
The third stanza shows rainwater on the wheelbarrow ("glazed with rain / water") and the fourth offers a glimpse of chickens ("beside the white / chickens"). Though they are brief, these images perform a variety of different functions in the text. The stanza about the rainwater highlights the physicality of the wheelbarrow. Offering a kind of still life portrait of the wheelbarrow, this glaze of rainwater is the only additional note of description the reader receives about it. "Glazed" is a measured word choice, as it makes clear the rain is covering the wheelbarrow with only a thin layer. Rainwater is also a particularly meaningful choice in that it shows the wheelbarrow at rest. The wheelbarrow would have to be stationary for it to get wet in this fashion. This moment underscores its material composition. While this coat of rainwater on the wheelbarrow is an aesthetically appealing image, it also subtly implies decay. Metal rusts and as such the rainwater acts as a corrosive element to the wheelbarrow. Williams is, at once, creating a strong symbol while still remaining tethered to the concrete aspects of his wheelbarrow. This reminder of the wheelbarrow's weaknesses and physical properties requires the reader to imagine it as a solid object, not a poetic construct.
The chickens serve the poem in a similar manner. The wheelbarrow sits "beside the white chickens," meaning that the chickens are defined in space by their relationship to the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow remains the subject of the sentence. However, the chickens introduce an element of action into the poem. Even thought the speaker does not describe them gathering, pecking or clucking, the chickens immediately add life to the stanza. Where the wheelbarrow is inanimate, it is immediately clear that the chickens are in motion. They add some sense of depth to the image as well. Where before the reader was forced to envision the wheelbarrow in isolation, the chickens give some outside detail that provides a glimpse into the background of the scene. The chickens also situate the poem in a clearly rural setting, making it easy to assume the poem occurs on a farm. By including this small detail, Williams is able to accomplish something the great haiku poets excelled at: creating a world with singular images. The descriptor "white" effectively accentuates a color contrast between the "red" of the wheelbarrow and the color of the chickens. Because the poem is so spare, Williams has selected his words with great care, each one crafting an image precisely and without opacity.
The poem is one sentence, broken up into individual lines ("so much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow / glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens") but undivided by punctuation. In this poem, like many of his other works, Williams makes extensive use of enjambment. The overall impact of this choice falls primarily on the images. By breaking down the lines of the poem into small blocks, Williams requires the reader to process each image slowly, making each one vivid and stark. The reader sees the red wheelbarrow, rainwater, and white chickens in individual stanzas. This has a kind of decluttering effect in which each of these things is left to stand alone in the text. By not placing these images in the same stanza, Williams gives them the space to be seen separately. This works in combination with the poem's sparseness. The poem's marked concision is a byproduct of its focus. Williams does not use ornamental language; he does not build a narrative, and he does not try to make the reader experience an obvious emotional connection with these images. His primary objective is to find a means to communicate these images as they exist in real life. Like the lens of a camera, Williams uses language that doesn't make these things anything more or less than they appear.
"The Red Wheelbarrow" is a poem about simplicity. It applies a lean and economical style to directly relay its images. However, what is so unusual about Williams's approach is the way that he is able to still make these images beautiful. This poem is not a cold exercise in style. Instead, it uses these minimal elements to prudently sketch this short scene. Like a photographer, Williams carefully constructs a clear frame around the visual elements in this poem. By stripping away artifice, he is better able to capture the image of what they really are. The red wheelbarrow, covered in rain and surrounded by white chickens, lingers in the reader's imagination, unobstructed by metaphor.
