In my Friday Critical Reading and Writing Level 4 classes, we have been considering the question “What is a poem?” recently. This has led us to explore what elements make up (or don’t make up) a poem, and how we can decide what is poem and prose. Sometimes the answer isn’t so clear cut, but students have shown a remarkable perseverance in tackling this often difficult question. Below is a poem (?) we discussed in class. Students were asked to answer the question “Is this a poem and why?” Attached is a wonderful and deep response from student Winnie, with the poem below.

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside

the white chickens.