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The most anthologized one, "The Red Wheelbarrow", is often referenced and even cited in an amazing TV Show, "Mr. Robot".
by flixic 9y ago
The most anthologized one, "The Red Wheelbarrow", is often referenced and even cited in an amazing TV Show, "Mr. Robot".
- salimmadjd 9y agoThank you! I just read the poem. I feel like I've learned a new black magic to describe complex and ambiguous thoughts with clarity and simplicity. so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. - William Carlos Williams
- marcelftw 9y agoEol are important here --- so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens --- >> I feel like I've learned a new black magic to describe complex and ambiguous thoughts with clarity and simplicity. Care to elaborate ? I sense BS
- 68c12c16 9y agoit must be of some difficulty in formatting the lines, especially the blank lines, but the original poem actually is: ===================== The Red Wheelbarrow == so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. here is a wiki page trying to interpret this poem...but I guess different people would get the picture differently... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Wheelbarrow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Wheelbarrow Well, personally, I guess a poem is a compound that tries to convey meanings through multiple modalities, especially the sound and the semantics in language, and sometimes the spaces and the mental images too...perhaps we could think of it as a Broadway musical, in which many different elements are combined in a harmonious presentation: the light, the stage, the costume, the sound, the music, the lyrics, and the acting -- and the timing for organizing all those elements is quite important too!
- sverige 9y agoI remember hearing the sick child story from a professor -- actually, I think the professor had elaborated the story into the death of Williams' daughter, if I remember correctly -- and immediately hating the poet and the poem. After thirty five years and an explanation from the poet's mouth, I rather like the poem and the poet, and hate that professor. Thankfully, I can't remember his name, though I can still see his smug mustache under his horn-rimmed glasses.
- pcrh 9y agoI'm amused at the sick child story. At first reading what came to my mind was how the chickens might for a brief time see a red barrow with food as their whole world.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mediocrejoker 9y agoI am genuinely curious how you (and the authors of eleven poetry anthologies) can find so much meaning in such a short poem. I see that it has some visual imagery and definitely evokes the imagination (about farming for sustenance, I think) but I'm not sure if there's something else I'm missing.
- josephorjoe 9y agoHonestly, I think the reason it gets included so often is that it is short and can usually fill out a page that one of Williams' longer and more substantive poems (e.g., Spring and All) ends on. Also, it is one of the better examples of a type of visual/minimalist/free verse mid-20th century american poetry that is super approachable and understandable (read some of the Wallace Stevens stuff for the counter examples). Plus, it is great for having "Wait, is this really a poem? What is a poem??" discussions in English 101 classes. And, to be fair, if some random person wrote it, it would get almost no attention at all, but Williams really was a quite good poet. And while this little poem doesn't have much to it, what it has is nicely wrought. Just my $0.02...
- SeanLuke 9y agoThat's not the poem. The critical part of the poem is the line-breaks.