(Williams 15). In the midst of the poem, one wonders whether there is a red wheel or a red wheelbarrow. The other notable question is what appears to “so much” that depends on a red wheel [barrow]. One is attempted to question whether “so much” also depends on white chickens too. Nonetheless, chicken provides eggs, meat and manure to the farm(Williams 15).

Asking the integral questions as far as the poem is concerned helps us understand it implications in subsistence farming. Why is the wheelbarrow red?(McGaw 17) Why is it important that the chickens are white? What has the rainwater got to do with it? Is the wheelbarrow on the ground? Is it part of some other structure linked to a rainwater barrel?(McGaw 19) Are the chickens alive, or have they been killed? Are their carcasses to be carted off to the butchers in the red-wheelbarrow? Is the wheelbarrow red from chicken blood? And so on.

The time when the poem was written is very different from that of today with very different life aspects as compared to what we have currently. During the dating of the poem in 1923, there was the significant deterioration of the stock market due to the Great Depression, and the aftermath of the First World War was evident. With this time in mind, the poem could reflect a hardworking man probably a farmer and a subsistence farmer in particular using wheelbarrow as a tool for the farm. The presence of the white chickens suggests that the owner of the wheelbarrow is a farmer. The simple reason behind this is that during this period, farmers relied mainly on simple tools and equipment like the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow would be integral in the life of a farmer so much, and truly he would depend on the red wheelbarrow.

The rainwater drops on the wheelbarrow shows that it is usually used thus emphasizing on its significance. In my perspective, the writing of the poem could not just be that the wheelbarrow was important to the poet, rather the poet was expressing the importance of the wheelbarrow to a farmer.

To a subsistence farmer, the wheelbarrow is an essential support system that he can use to transport the produce from his farm to the market to be sold or for storage. Thus, the wheelbarrow remains pivotal in the activities of a subsistence farmer (Williams 23)

The tone and diction of the poem plays a crucial role in the overall interpretation. Given that the wheelbarrow was “glazed with rain water” implies that there was light or showers of rain, which result into light, calm setting(Youngberg 152). This is supported by the fact that there is no movement captured in the poem. Thus, this displays a still farm with no much activities taking place as would happen in commercial cases. Therefore, the picture of a subsistence farm is brought up as it occurs in the scene of daily life and no much fuss and buzz would occur given that the wheelbarrow would be in use fairly often.

Given the description given on the colors of the objects, it is probably early morning or late evening. At this time, the sun either rising or setting. Thus, the sun allows the rainwater to glaze the wheelbarrow in light and at the same time with moisture. No noise is described thus indicating that it is calm, untouched and perfect.

The colors that are described in the poem are integral in conveying meaning as well as the interpretation of the poem. The wheelbarrow is said to be red and red is known to be a bold color(McGaw 23). The wheelbarrow apparently stands out in its environment among the white chickens and possibly a green lawn. Thus, the importance of the wheelbarrow is professed with its color and the visibility among other things. Additionally, red is known to be color of flesh and blood, and this would imply that the farmer in his daily toiling puts through his hard, perspiring, shedding blood and strain his muscles each day while using his wheelbarrow in the farm. Notably, the wheelbarrow makes the work of the farmer easier and more efficient thus the farmer loves it so much and usually the farmer uses the equipment when it is sitting on the rain(McGaw 29). Given the reliability of the wheelbarrow, the farmer loves his equipment.

The color of the chicken is quite important given that white chicken are rare to come by. The mentioning of the chickens and their colors would be a pointer to the purity of the farmyard or the life of the farmer(Youngberg 153). On the other hand, the rain water is associated with blue color. Combining the three colors; red wheelbarrow, white chickens, and blue water depicts a picture of a common working American in which a subsistence farmer falls.

Thus the poet seemingly has painted a picture of a farmer who needs the wheelbarrow and knows that it is an integral tool for his activities, at the same time, there is a depiction of a society that needs the farmer as well and this is the American society. The unique meaning can be woven when the poem is put in a single sentence showing the importance of subsistence farming and plight of subsistence farmers in the pre-20^th century US.

Works Cited

McGaw, Judith A. “So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow”: Agricultural tool ownership in the eighteenth-century mid-Atlantic.” American technology (2001): 12-31.

Williams, William Carlos. The red wheelbarrow.Poetry on the Buses, Chatham College, 1981.

Youngberg, Quentin. “Williams’s THE RED WHEELBARROW.” The Explicator58.3 (2000): 152-153.