VLACS

1. “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams
and “Fog” by Carl Sandburg
20th Century
Poetry
Abby Desrochers

2. “The Red
Wheelbarrow”
• William Carlos William’s poem uses imagery and symbolism to portray how life may
have been like on an American farm in the early 20th century.
• Through its few words, the poem tells how the red wheelbarrow, though it has been
covered in rain, remains beside the white chickens.

3. “The Red
Wheelbarrow”
• The idea that the wheelbarrow still
remains and is dependable could be an
allusion to how America and its
literature remained prominent for so
long and even into the 20th century. It
also alludes to America’s love for
farming because the setting seems to
be a farm.

4. “The Fog”
❖ Carl Sandburg’s poem “the fog”
uses metaphors and imagery to
portray how fog passes over a
city.
❖ Upon further examination, it
could be thought that this “fog”
that comes and goes
represents the problems faced
by Americans during the 20th
century.

5. “The Fog”
❖ 20th century America faced problems
like women’s suffrage, racial tension,
and wars. The poet may have hoped
for a deeper meaning in what is said
in the second stanza.
❖ The poet is relating fog’s
mysteriousness and harmlessness to
many of the issues that America had
faced at the time.