The poem, "Ars Poetica", written by Archibald MacLeish , can be summarized by its final stanza, "A poem should not mean But be." Macleish suggests that a poem is like any other piece of art and should be admired as an image. The image leaves the reader to decide of what the poem means to them through their own experiences. Compared to other forms of poetry, which the author of the poem tries to direct what the reader feels, and the message he recieves. A poem usually is made of separate words and it is often tempting to take meaning from each word itself and not see the words put together as an image. When Macleish says that, " A poem should be wordless As the flight of birds," he says that the poem doesn"t need to give the reader a feeling but like the wind on a birds back the reader"s experience directs them towards a more personal meaning.

             The poem, " The Red Wheelbarrow," by Williams is a good example of what Macleish was referring to in his poem. The poem contains fifteen words and eight lines simply describing a wheelbarrow. The only line that can stand by itself in this poem is, "a red wheel/barrow." The other lines do not make much sense alone but together they show an entire scene. The reader is not told how to react to this scene but is left to react in his or her own personal way. Although the poem does contain words, there is a minimal amount compared to much lengthier poems that use strong feeling and descriptive words to create a specific image which control the readers perception of the poem. Alternatively, Williams creates an image as sharp as a picture that creates different reactions and feelings from each individual reader as they relate their own experiences to the scene shown in the poem.