William Carlos Williams was born in Rutherford, New Jersey. During his lifetime, Rutherford was an accomplished doctor of medicine, playwright, novelist and political essayist.
Imagism is defined as succinct, concentrated writing with an exacting description of imagery, presented with a lack of personal focus by the poet. The clear-cut, linear style of "The Red Wheelbarrow" is reflective of the genre. The alternating three- and one-word line structure is particularly rigid, yet the descriptive words contained within are wispy and romantic.
"The Red Wheelbarrow" debuted in Williams' collection of poetry "Spring and All," which was published by Contact Publishing in 1923. According to the Poetry Foundation, Williams' personal impression of the book's success was profound. While it was not an impressive-selling book at the time, many believed Williams thought it was his creative apex. In fact, he would spend much of his career wondering if the book's success could be duplicated--a feat Williams would not even attempt for 10 years until the release of "The Cod Head" in 1932.
The literary critic Hyun-Young Cho notes that the poem's lack of any personal or emotional statement places intense emphasis on the object at hand, namely, the red wheelbarrow itself. This is distinctly Imagist. The colors, shapes, surroundings and forms of the poem's main object are paramount.
Williams' subject matter, a wheelbarrow, was strikingly different from that of other poetry of his era and is another example of the work's Imagist style. Williams illustrates a tool of industry as a thing capable of beauty and of being surrounded by beauty. This notion is key to the longevity and acclaim of "Red Wheelbarrow" as a monumental moment in poetry and in American writing.