Ette The Red Wheelbarrow
much depends
so
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
5
beside the white
chickens.
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
QUESTIONS
The speaker asserts that so much depends upon" the objects he refers to,
kading the reader to ask: How much and why? This glimpse of a farm scene
implies one kind of answer. What is the importance of the wheelbarrow, rain,
and chicken to a farmer? To all of us?
What further importance can you infer from the references to color, shape,
texture, and the juxtaposition of objects? Does the poem itself have a
shape? What two ways of observing and valuing the world does the poem
imply?