- Hello, student-critics. Kudos for the well-written critical analysis of Whitman's "O Captain! My Captain!"
Applying the basic premise of the Formalist/ New Criticism Approach discussed in class, analyze and interpret this poem. As much as possible, please DO AWAY WITH CONSULTING PROFESSIONAL CRITICS' ANALYSES. Post your critical analysis as comment. This exercise is worth 20 points.
- so much depends
- upon
- a red wheel
- barrow
- glazed with rain
- water
- beside the white
- chickens.
We find this poem difficult to interpret and we can hardly grasp the meaning of the poem. We approach the poem from formalist view and we only pay attention to the work/text. The poem has a distinct pattern, with alternating lines of two and one stressed syllables(upon, barrow, water & chickens). We assume (wheelbarrow & rainwater) are separated to emphasize the clarity and intensity of word and sound. Though the poem doesn't contain musicality, it has a sense of rhyme. We also notice that the poem is contain mental images like a painting using contrasting colors red and white with two opposite things (wheelbarrow and chickens). There are only two plural in the poem, 'so much" and "chickens). It is not mentioned what the wheelbarrow has to carry, we can feel strength, loneliness and relief in the end.
ReplyDeleteYaw Mang & A.J Parel
the poem started with the introduction "so much depends" for us, it is introducing the main picture of the poem which is the wheelbarrow. .. then the next lines that followed were "glazed with rain water" which introduces the wheelbarrow in a different angle. in a different look. in a different perspective...and lastly, the color white contrasts the color red which was mentioned earlier in the poem.. :))
ReplyDeletepeace.. :D
William's Red Wheelbarrow seems like a sentence with one complete thought, but really, it doesn't start with a capital letter and neither does it end with a punctuation mark, so is the thought just supposed to be the same over and over again?
ReplyDeleteThe poem is composed of 8 lines of 4 stanzas. Each stanza has a long line followed by a short 1-word line for clarity. A juxtaposition can be seen in the stark use of red and white colors to accent purity for the chickens and anger for the wheelbarrow. The visual impact of the poem is that of a picture frame. And yes, whist reading the poem, the words used were concrete and specific to the image that the poet wants us to see. The words are sparingly used. When reading the poem aloud, there seems to be a lilt to the lines, although the verse of the stanzas are free of regular meters and rhyme. Emphasis is given to the words "upon", "barrow", "water", "chickens" and therefore lets the reader understand that the poem is set in a farm.
Delagado
Yulo
We really had a hard time trying to figure out the real meaning of the said poem, but then we tried to use the formalist view in order for us to come up with a solid idea. Actually, if we will going to analyze it according to its structure, we will notice that there is such thing as emphasis on the word: upon, barrow,water and chicken which means that they are indeed important to complete a certain thought. It is separated from the longer verse because it is more important because those are the words that give meaning to the poem. We then found out that without these certain word the thought itself would totally be different and chaotic. The word 'depends' is simply nothing without the word 'upon', 'wheel' would also be totally different without the word 'barrow', 'rain' would also be definitely different without the word 'water' and lastly, 'white' will mean nothing without the word chicken because color define what is the kind of chicken it really means. There is such thing as dependency in the poem wherein the other could not live without the other. It only means that we human are nothing without the things around us that is why there is such thing as emphasis to it. Color is also very much important in the poem because there is a color red which represent the stronger one and white which is the weaker or should we say pure one. They coordinate with each other to make the world go round and to make it equal and balance.
ReplyDeleteRIZZY BARCELON
KATRINA NIEGOS
At first glance, this poem of William looks like a haiku considering that it is very short. Yet, looking it precisely, it is a sentence that is divided into four parts with two lines that has a varied length. The unusual structure of the poem brings more curiosity to the real score of the poem. This is especially true to the first part "so much depends upon" that may leave us the questions like "who depends" and "why depend".
ReplyDeleteThere's also a vividness in terms of his imagery. Williams used distinct colors such as white and red to describe the two dominant things found in his poem; the wheelbarrow and the chicken. The picture of the white chickens and the red wheelbarrow has something to do with the meaning where William intend for the readers to know. The picture itself is an illustration of a farm where white chickens are placed beside the red wheelbarrow just a while after the rain poured.
Hence, in this poem we tried to point out the important details such as the prevalent words-things and colors, the less use of the verbs, and the atypical structure.
Deon, Mharnelisa
Ponteras, Hanemar
The Red Wheel Barrow was just a simple poem at first glance with a simple topic. But as you look at it more closely, the whole poem evokes a very vivid image of the wheel barrow. And if you look at it,the whole poem can be made into a complete sentence.
ReplyDeleteThe first few words of the poem was very striking. "So much depends upon", what depends upon the wheel barrow? It seems that the first stanza connotes the structure of the poem, wherein the next few stanzas "depend" upon the stanzas before them.
The second stanza's main focus is on the wheel barrow. It's very unusual that the poet uses the red as the color of the wheelbarrow when in real life, the usual color would be green or brown. So, it only connotes that the poet would want to really catch the reader's attention and create an image.
The third stanza talks about the wheel barrow being glazed with rain, so it only say that the rain changed the image of the wheel barrow. From it being red into something wild and wet red. Again, the author wants to create an image of the wheelbarrow.
The last stanza uses the chicken to complete the whole image the poet would want to create. It is very contrasting that he uses the white color in association with the chicken so as to be beside the "red" wheelbarrow. It only means that the Wheelbarrow is meant to stand out from the whole picture.
All in all, the whole poem is very interesting and deep in contrast to the simplicity of its structure. The poet would want to really convey to us his message of complexity in simplicity and create a wonderful image out of a simple scene.
Limbaga, Angeline Marie S.
Tompong, Geena H.
BEEN3
To analyze the poem from the lens of a formalist means to analyze how it was written in terms of the physical structure of the poem and more than what it only means. As what we have learned from this approach, the form of the poem denotes its meaning. The poem demands in the first line 3 independent words and in the second line a world with two syllables in each couplet. The line cut the words "wheelbarrow" and "rainwater" into their constituents without the use of a hyphenation which should denote that the first noun is to be part of a compound in the second line. We observed uniformity in terms of word structures and juxtaposition as well. No capitalization was observed as each couplet of the poem forms a phrase, with no complete though at all.
ReplyDeleteThe line “so much depends upon” gives us an interpretation that “so much” can stand for anything else, probably something not mentioned in the poem or can even be the subject of the poem, and “depends” acting as the action that the subject performs and “upon” being the receiver of the action of the verb.
The first line of the poem also appears very appealing because it sets the image of a wheelbarrow being dominant in the poem.
The style is supposed to give a direct experience of what the poet wants the reader to have. In this case it is a red wheelbarrow. We experienced the function of the wheelbarrow in the poem as to something that one needs or is being dependent upon in order to complete a conjure image, just as how the rest of the poem is completely dependent on the original lines.
JESSICA SERRANO
JOHN HENRY DELIG
BEEN3