浅析《红色手推车》_英美诗歌论文

浅析《红色手推车》_英美诗歌论文 2012-2013学年第一学期期末论文 浅析《红色手推车》 课程名称: 《英美诗歌》 任课教师: 学生姓名: 班 级: 学 号: 1 Explain The red wheelbarrow in Simple Terms Summary: William Carlos Williams is the representive poet of postmodernnism.His masterpiece The red wheelbarrow is very important in the literature.There is no punctuation in this poem.This shows the poet has the spirit of creation;And in this poem, the imagines are all ordinary things.This shows he emphasises the thingness of things.This poet displays the idea that content and form can express the main idea very well! Key words:red wheelbarrow,red,white depends,glazed William Carlos Williams(1883-1963),is one of the most important American poet after the Second World War.He,after Walt whitmanr, was the scecond most Influential poets in American literature.He is the representive poet of postmodernism. William Carlos Williams was different from other poets in his age.He did not want to praise the European tradition and civilization,and he did not have a preference for the things that were adstract and traditional.He emphasised the thingness of things.What’more, “only new is best”was the guideness of he when he wrote poet.He wrote this poem with the principle that“going back to life 2 without tradition,and expressing thought with brief clear imagines”.With this principle,let’s read this poem patiently and carefully. At first sight of this poem,we may notice that there is not any punctuation.Then we can think adout the importance of punctuation.For one thing,it helps determine begings and endings.For another,it works with conjunctions to represent relationships among things,time,and ideas in the text.But in this poem,there is lack of punctuation.We may ask if the poet forgot to add punctuations in the poem?Of course not!Read carefully we can find the answer.Without the interruptions of commas and periods,the words flow together.They are not separated parts but one whole unit.Then there is a scene of farm are“created”in our minds.The scene is made up several simple elements:“red wheelbarrow”,“rain water”，“white chickens”.But they are not divited.They are related to “depends”with“upon” “with”and“beside”.So the “depends” is the medium when those things affects each other.Another important word that I think is “glazed”.It is suggesting the time in this poem.After rainning,and there is filled with dark clouds.Only in this time,we can see the red wheelbarrow 3 that is with rain water,and the rain water could gaze through the dark clouds.Besides the chickens’feathers are bright white in this time.Before see the word“glazed”,we can see a quiet static scene.However,when we see the word,the scene,as if is moving.And we can use our imagination to“built”a farm that is existing in our ordinary world.The words “depends”,“glazed” make the elements as a whole unity, change the scene from quiet static to moving and there are four equal parts in this scene.Thereby, a tension is created,an independence that somehow is connected. The imagines in this poem are ordinary,enduring,and somehow essential.The scene is rural,perhaps a farm .The chickens are not symbolic;they are white chickens that exist beside equally plain things of the world;a utilitarian barrow that is not exalted,but left out in the rain.And not an apocalyptic rain but a slow drizzle.All those imagine are just simple,they are not symbolic.This reminds me of the theme that the poet emphsised.That is the thingness of things. At the beginning of this poem,we can see “so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow”.“so much”depends upon the very 4 small wheelbarrow.As we all known that the meanings of words express the speaker’feelings.“so much”expresses the poet’heaving heart.And the great and small ,apparently distinct objects.And the red colour gives us a feeling of heavy.But when we see the word “white”,it gives us a feeling of light.They are contrast to each other.This shows the change of the poet’feelings.From the heaving heart to a light one.This shows that environment can relax people and the nature have a positive effect on human beings. We may feel strange about this poem.Beacause there is not a subject,and we don’t know what is it that“so much depends upon”,so it can be referred to that poet wanted the reader to use imagination.We can put anything in the position of subject.This displays that the poet wanted to break the limition of tradition and he believed that human being can create anything! And now,we will discuss the wheelbarrow.We already pointed out it as a small things to contrast with the “too much”things.Then we can discuss its spelling form in this poem.In the title the “wheelbarrow”is not divided.However when it appears in content its spelling 5 form is“wheel barrow”. The word wheelbarrow is a compound word.Then we may think that arrangment of its spelling form was conscious.And if we read patient and carefully,we will find that it achieves a new kind of rhyme when those word was arranged in different way.What’more,if we read, we have to notice the word“wheel”and “barrow”separately.Then we will think that ordinary things which we often leave out.And what’s the wheelbarrow stands for?The answer is “noting”.It is just a wheelbarrow,a very ordinary thing in our life!This reminds the principle that William Carlos Williams went for.He emphesised the concrete things instead of the abstract ones. The red wheelbarrow was written in a American oral form.It abandons the traditional rhyme of Britian and break the limit between the poet and essay. it is very short as well as brief.This shows that the poet had a tend to against the tradition.Artists often say that a work of art is about itself and something else. In this way, a poem can be an ars poetica, a statement by the poet about poetry, about his or her beliefs about what poetry is and about what it does. Asking how this poem might be an ars poetica is a great way to further understand both the poem and Williams as a 6 poet.There are only some imagines in this poem,and when we begin to read this poem we can not find the main idea of this poem.But if we read carefully,we can find the poem is full of concrete things.And the content and form are the best expression than those that express in direct way. We may ask “why this poem attracts us so much”?The answer is that it is a creation!It is shorter than other poems.What’more,there is lack of punctuation.The traditional poems often have punctuation.However,this poem is lack of it.So it attracts us a lot.The poet’s spirit can be found anywhere in this poem.The spirits that breaks the limitation of tradition and live in the present world inspire us a lot.With reading this poem,let’s admire those spirits of the poet! Reference: 1. 郝红英.诗歌《红色手推车》的鉴赏.安徽文学,2009,(2) 2. 李加强.感性的生活理性的沉思——威廉斯《红色手推车》 之解读.宿州师专学报，2011，(4) 3. 曹丽.《红色手推车》——威廉斯的创作宣言.安徽文学， 2009(1) 4. 徐艳萍.评威廉斯《红色手推车》.西安电子科技大学学报， 2002(3) 7 5. 宁淑梅.言有尽而意无穷——简单美的画卷.河北理工学院 学报，2003(4) 6. 殷恒光.也谈《红色手推车》.中国民航学院学报，2000(6) 7. 李志玲.从《红色手推车》看诗歌问 题 快递公司问题件快递公司问题件货款处理关于圆的周长面积重点题型关于解方程组的题及答案关于南海问题 风格的等值翻译.吉 林省教育学院学报，2010(2) 8. 郭雷.从文体学角度欣赏《红色手推车》.时代文学，2011 (6) 9. 林桂珊. 《红色手推车》之文体美。宜宾学院学报，2008 (8) 10. 张跃军.威廉 卡洛斯 威廉斯的 意象主义诗歌外国文学评论，2000(3) 8 9