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Before You Read
Reading the Selection
Responding to Literature
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• To read and analyze two imagist poems about everyday objects and situations
• To write a note or poem responding to a poem
William Carlos Williams was born in 1883 and died in 1963.
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About the PoemWilliams saw the red wheelbarrow of this poem outside an old house. Rain was pouring down, and white chickens were walking nearby.
BACKGROUND
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Literary Influences While attending the University of Pennsylvania, Williams befriended poet Ezra Pound, who had a major influence on Williams’s work. Pound originated the literary movement called Imagism, which emphasized the presentation of concrete images and the use of stripped-down language based on everyday speech. Williams himself recommended, “Cut and cut again whatever you write–while you leave by your art no trace of your cutting–and the final utterance will remain packed with what you have to say.”
FOCUS ACTIVITY
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QuickwriteLook at the world as a poet might. What sights, smells, sounds, and situations could be used as subjects for poems? Jot down five possible subjects in your journal.
What have you seen today that would make a good poem?
Setting a PurposeRead to see how a poet turns everyday situations into vivid poems.
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Navigation Toolbar
A B C
A Active Reading
InterpretWhat might the poet mean when he writes that “so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow”?
Possible answer: The poet means it is important to see the beauty of common things.
Active ReadingB
QuestionWhy is the wheelbarrow in the poem “glazed” with rainwater?
Possible answer: The rain makes the wheelbarrow shine, just as the beauty of everyday things may be “of the moment,” revealed unexpectedly by some ordinary occurrence.
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Active ReadingC
ConnectHow is this poem like “The Red Wheelbarrow”?
This poem is about eating plums that the speaker finds in the icebox. It describes an ordinary event, just as seeing a red wheelbarrow and chickens is an ordinary event. Both poems are about ordinary things and how they can be beautiful.
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Personal Response
Analyzing Literature
Literature and Writing
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PERSONAL RESPONSEWhat thoughts came to your mind as you read these poems?
The first two lines suggest that the speaker sees something important in the scene he is about to describe.
RECALL AND INTERPRET
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What do the first two lines suggest about the speaker’s response to the scene?
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The speaker mentions a wheelbarrow. The color is significant because it is red, a color that commands attention.
RECALL AND INTERPRETWhat item is mentioned in stanza 2? What might be the significance of its color?
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He describes the rainwater and the white chickens. By focusing on these common objects, Williams asks readers to recognize the beauty that can be seen in ordinary objects.
RECALL AND INTERPRETWhat two items does the poet describe in stanzas 3 and 4? What do you think Williams is saying in this poem?
EVALUATE AND CONNECT
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Williams carefully arranges his words, including breaking up the words rainwater and wheelbarrow. How, in your opinion, does the arrangement of the words and stanzas affect the look, feel, sound, and pace of the poem?
Possible answer: The separation not only makes the pace more deliberate but forces the reader to listen to each word and respond to the meaning of each word part.
EVALUATE AND CONNECTWould you have picked this red wheelbarrow as a topic for a poem? How is it similar to or different from the subjects you have seen today that would make a good poem?
RECALL AND INTERPRETHow does the title connect to the poem?
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The title could be the introduction to the poem. As both explanation and apology, it softens the abrupt opening.
What does the speaker admit in the first two stanzas? What does this suggest about the speaker’s relationship to the person being addressed?
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The speaker has eaten plums belonging to “you.” The speaker has a close relationship to the person addressed, perhaps that of a husband or wife, a close friend or relative.
RECALL AND INTERPRET
What does the speaker want from the other person? What does the speaker describe in the last three lines? In your opinion, why are these details included?
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The speaker lightly asks for, and seems to expect, forgiveness. The description of the taste and feel of the plums explains the action and asks for understanding.
RECALL AND INTERPRET
EVALUATE AND CONNECT
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What tone does the speaker use? How would you react to this tone if you were the other person? Why?
The tone is neither overly apologetic nor gleeful, but calmly honest.
EVALUATE AND CONNECT
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Theme Connections In what ways does this poem go in a new direction from earlier poems about abstract concepts such as love or pleasure?
Williams’s poem takes a new direction by focusing on a common, everyday circumstance rather than on a lofty ideal or abstract concept.
This Is Just to RespondWrite a brief reply to “This Is Just to Say” that is in keeping with the poem’s tone and simplicity. Write your message as either a note or a poem.
Another writer was inspired by the style of William's poem, and she wrote...
“This is Just to Say”by: Erica-Lynn Gambino
(for William Carlos Williams)
I have justasked you to get out of my
apartment
EventhoughYou neverThoughtI would
“This is Just to Say” Stanza II
forgive meyou were
drivingme insane
“This is Just to Say” Stanza III
