{"id":8952,"date":"2015-01-23T02:08:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T02:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eoisabi.org\/?p=8952"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:27:20","slug":"edward-hopper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishroam.com\/?p=8952","title":{"rendered":"Edward Hopper"},"content":{"rendered":"

[1882 – 1967]<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"housebytherailroad\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Critics tend to note that Edward Hopper<\/strong>\u2019s painting\u00a0House by the Railroad<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and Edward Hirsch<\/strong>\u2019s poem \u201cEdward Hopper and the House by the Railroad\u201d<\/em> (1925) offer two views of a particular time and place in American history: the tail end of the main industrial movement in the United States, when the traffic of industry aggressively reconfigured the American landscape. Even as that traffic brought work and culture to some parts of the country, it ravished and compelled the abandonment of others. What for some was progress was for others decline. Both works address additional subjects, including the role and impact of the artist.<\/p>\n

Edward Hirsch<\/strong><\/a> (b. 1950) is a contemporary poet known for his advocacy of poetry (and his bestseller\u00a0\u21d2How to Read a Poem\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and Fall in Love with Poetry<\/em>). Hirsch\u2019s poem belongs to the tradition of ekphrastic<\/em> poetry<\/a>, which the Academy of American Poets defines as poetry that \u201cconfronts\u201d<\/em> art.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad \u00a0<\/strong>(Edward Hirsch_1925)<\/p>\n

Out here in the exact middle of the day,
\nThis strange, gawky house has the expression
\nOf someone being stared at, someone holding
\nHis breath underwater, hushed and expectant;<\/p>\n

This house is ashamed of itself, ashamed
\nOf its fantastic mansard rooftop
\nAnd its pseudo-Gothic porch, ashamed
\nof its shoulders and large, awkward hands.<\/p>\n

But the man behind the easel is relentless.
\nHe is as brutal as sunlight, and believes
\nThe house must have done something horrible
\nTo the people who once lived here<\/p>\n

Because now it is so desperately empty,
\nIt must have done something to the sky
\nBecause the sky, too, is utterly vacant
\nAnd devoid of meaning. There are no<\/p>\n

Trees or shrubs anywhere–the house
\nMust have done something against the earth.
\nAll that is present is a single pair of tracks
\nStraightening into the distance. No trains pass.<\/p>\n

Now the stranger returns to this place daily
\nUntil the house begins to suspect
\nThat the man, too, is desolate, desolate
\nAnd even ashamed. Soon the house starts<\/p>\n

To stare frankly at the man. And somehow
\nThe empty white canvas slowly takes on
\nThe expression of someone who is unnerved,
\nSomeone holding his breath underwater.<\/p>\n

And then one day the man simply disappears.
\nHe is a last afternoon shadow moving
\nAcross the tracks, making its way
\nThrough the vast, darkening fields.<\/p>\n

This man will paint other abandoned mansions,
\nAnd faded cafeteria windows, and poorly lettered
\nStorefronts on the edges of small towns.
\nAlways they will have this same expression,<\/p>\n

The utterly naked look of someone
\nBeing stared at, someone American and gawky.
\nSomeone who is about to be left alone
\nAgain, and can no longer stand it.<\/p>\n

\n
\u25ca \u00a0Edward Hopper & Debussy \u00a0\u2193<\/h6>\n
\n

Debussy’s Claire de Lune<\/em> expresses so well what Hopper’s paintings often depict: moments of quiet reflection, introspection, solitude, thoughtfulness…the human soul in repose<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n