Milly Pnotporn Jantarakolica

Mr. Matthew Bishop

English 12
11 September, 2017

On “The Red Wheelbarrow”

In “The Red Wheelbarrow,” William Carlos Williams use of word choice and

enjambment forces the reader to reconsider their perspective of these objects. Williams starts

out the poem by clarifying that truth “depends” on objects. In this case, he points out three

concrete objects. Williams writes, “a red wheel/ barrow/ glazed with rain/ water/ beside the

white/ chickens” (3-8). By this, Williams uses various words like “depends”, “red”, and

“glazed” to create a stronger image of the objects. “Depends” is a very strong word and it

makes us predict that the following objects that would be presented to the reader is

significant. By emphasizing the word “red” in the title and in the poem, the readers would

have thought about this word twice and imagined an illustration of an actual red

wheelbarrow. Similarly, the word “glazed” helps us imagine a shiny wheelbarrow. Moreover,

enjambment is used to space out words in order to recognize that a certain object is composed

of different elements. For instance, wheel and barrow is separated and this might be due to

his intention for people to acknowledge that a wheelbarrow is composed of wheel and

barrow. In addition, rainwater is also cut apart, demonstrating that water is an element of rain.

Lastly, white is broken apart from chicken to strengthen the importance of the chicken’s

color. Overall, Williams enhance his belief in “No ideas but in things” by using literature

devices like diction and enjambment.