Partly Cloudy, 64°
The red wheelbarrow from modernist writer William Carlos Williams’s 1938 poem is reportedly entirely unaware of its rampant fame.
“This poem is really important when we think about symbolism,” said middle school English teacher Mattie Reynolds to her sixth-grade class, as the red wheelbarrow, oblivious to its status as a household name, just sat in a field on a far-away farm. “William Carlos Williams relies heavily on images—showing, not telling.”
“What does the rainwater signify?” Reynolds asked her class while farmers filled the unknowing red wheelbarrow with recently-harvested garlic bulbs. “Any thoughts? Maybe purity?”
At press time, two roads diverging in a yellow wood were really letting their success go to their heads.
