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Comparing The Red Wheelbarrow And Blurry Cow

1265 Words6 Pages

Zaylie Ryan
Mr. Thomas Korson
English 1B
29 March 2018
Blurry Cow v. The Red Wheelbarrow
Time is different for everyone that experiences it, as is poetry. What may seem like an eternity to some, may just be a fleeting moment to others. Such is the case with William Carlos Williams’, “The Red Wheelbarrow” and Chase Twitchell’s, “Blurry Cow”. While both poems touch on the passage of time, or rather a passing moment in time, “Blurry Cow” is more successful in triggering insightful thought and eloquently conveying the idea behind the work itself. Where “The Red Wheelbarrow” speaks of a still frame of a single moment, “Blurry Cow” tells of a single moment in motion and in doing so, it can more clearly represent itself for what it is - a passing …show more content…

In regards to successfulness, “Blurry Cow” elaborates more and as a result, creates a parallel to human lives. While people personally experience time it may seem like an eternity, but looking back on it we see that those moments were mere blips in time as a whole. “Blurry Cow” captures that idea perfectly by using imagery of a still moment seen from someone on a train passing by some cows. In “Blurry Cow”, Twitchell writes: “A blurry cow, of all things,/ strays into the memory, the afterimage,/ of this day on earth” (l. 11-13). The line sums up the entire reason Twitchell’s poem is more successful, acting as a satisfying conclusion. Had Twitchell stopped writing after his first stanza, “Blurry Cow” would have been almost identical to “The Red Wheelbarrow”, only setting up scenery without giving the poem an actual purpose. Having added the second stanza, Twitchell creates a setting beyond the scene that is being focused on, which in turn gives the poem an almost life-like quality to it. “The Red Wheelbarrow” could just as easily be describing a painting, with how clear the scene is expressed but how little the actual world around it is established - it feels lifeless, stationary, and two-dimensional. Williams succeeded in creating an immersive picture, but that is all it really does. Twitchell’s, “Blurry Cow” creates an …show more content…

The question of why someone would write about a wheelbarrow, what could it possibly mean, and what was the writer trying to capture when they wrote the poem, all come to mind. The same could be said for “Blurry Cow” (swapping in a wheelbarrow for some cows, of course), however, after pondering these questions a conclusion or interpretation can be made. Not to say that someone could not create some interpretation of, “The Red Wheelbarrow”, but it would be far more difficult than creating an interpretation of, “Blurry Cow”. A difficult to interpret poem does not necessarily make for a good, or even decent poem. Conversely, a poem that is too easily interpreted does not always make for a good poem. Twitchell successfully found the prime in-between area of too easy and too difficult for “Blurry Cow”. Adding the perfect amount of information to not make the poem seem oversaturated and tasteless, but instead feel deep and meaningful - as well as

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