If a picture is worth a thousand words im turning in a gallary for my final

Figurative language is one of the cornerstones of poetic writings, and The Red Wheelbarrow is no exception. Though one may not think of The Red Wheelbarrow as a poem filled with figurative language it is to me. Most consider figurative language to be when the author uses over the top words to create an image that English majors can look at for years and pull a different meaning and picture out of it, yet to me figurative language is any use of language that creates vivid images in ones head. Though so few words are used in The Red Wheelbarrow, they leave you trying to figure out the rest of the scene, it leaves you with an image. With a mere 16 words Williams leaves us with a picture and wondering about the rest of a picture.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

We can vividly see the red wheelbarrow glazed with water, we can imagine that this is a farm, and from this a picture of our own creation spreads. To give such detail about one simple object Williams successfully involves the reader into his story, it lets them fill in the blanks to a story which is already complete. We are left in amazement by the first part, "so much depends/upon", because we are left with such a concrete description of the wheelbarrow, yet nothing is told to the readers why everything seems to depend upon this particular wheelbarrow. The fact that the author is vague in communicating their ideas is what makes this poem so special, if all of the details were included it would simply be a description of a house, but through this vagueness the author opens a door to our imagination letting our own images about this poem flow freely. Williams simultaneously uses images in the best of and worst of ways.