Jacqueline, Blog #10: So Much Depends Upon…

When I read Williams’s poem I imagined a farm in the middle of nowhere with a chicken coop and a farmer. I think Williams wanted to emphasize the importance of the red wheelbarrow and the farmer’s dependence on it. This phrase, “so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow”, makes it seem that without the red wheelbarrow the farmer won’t be able to complete the daily tasks for his farm. I assume that the farmer uses the rainwater to give it to his chickens or to water his crops. I also think that the farmer is living through a drought because if he had enough water for his farm he wouldn’t be dependent on the rainwater that the wheelbarrow holds. The way that the poem is structured makes it seems like it lingers a bit giving more importance on the words “upon, barrow, water, and chickens”. Williams intentionally formatted his poem this way so the reader will understand that the wheelbarrow is not just a simple tool but necessary and essential in the farmer’s life.

so much depends

upon

 

that shimmering shooting

star

 

holding up my

dreams

 

on the dark and misty

night