Saturday, May 24, 2014

Metaphor in the poem the red wheelbarow

There is only one metaphor in this incredibly short poem, and it's expressed by the following lines:

"a red wheelbarrowglazed with rainwater..."

The red wheelbarrow is presented to us as being "glazed," that is to say, shining, and with a certain hardness to it. The narrator sees the wheelbarrow just after a shower of rain and with the sun peeping through the clouds. The sun makes the wet surface of the wheelbarrow shine; it also makes the white chickens gleam.
The metaphorical use of the word "glazed" implies a certain fixity in the hard surface of the wheelbarrow. The weather will change, and the seasons will come and go, but normality will always return. The chickens will emerge from their hiding place after the storm has passed, and life will go on as before. Yes, such moments of storm and stress will continue to recur throughout our lives, but they never last. What matters is the sense of stability, the normal rhythm of our daily lives to which we return after the moments of turbulence have elapsed. And it is upon those solid foundations that "so much depends."
 

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