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| House by the Railroad by Edward Hopper |
Out here in the exact middle of the day,
This strange, gawky house has the expression
Of someone being stared at, someone holding
His breath underwater, hushed and expectant;
This house is ashamed of itself, ashamed
Of its fantastic mansard rooftop
And its pseudo-Gothic porch, ashamed
of its shoulders and large, awkward hands.
But the man behind the easel is relentless.
He is as brutal as sunlight, and believes
The house must have done something horrible
To the people who once lived here
Because now it is so desperately empty,
It must have done something to the sky
Because the sky, too, is utterly vacant
And devoid of meaning. There are no
Trees or shrubs anywhere--the house
Must have done something against the earth.
All that is present is a single pair of tracks
Straightening into the distance. No trains pass.
Now the stranger returns to this place daily
Until the house begins to suspect
That the man, too, is desolate, desolate
And even ashamed. Soon the house starts
To stare frankly at the man. And somehow
The empty white canvas slowly takes on
The expression of someone who is unnerved,
Someone holding his breath underwater.
And then one day the man simply disappears.
He is a last afternoon shadow moving
Across the tracks, making its way
Through the vast, darkening fields.
This man will paint other abandoned mansions,
And faded cafeteria windows, and poorly lettered
Storefronts on the edges of small towns.
Always they will have this same expression,
The utterly naked look of someone
Being stared at, someone American and gawky.
Someone who is about to be left alone
Again, and can no longer stand it.
Response: I like this poem, I think it was written as a stroy to go along with the painting by Hopper. I think it has portrayed unhappiness with oneself very well. An artist is painting but the canvas is taking on his thought and feelings through the personification of a house. Hirsh talks about lonesomeness and distrust in people. The whole tone of the poem emits solitude and social awkwardness and paranoia. If this poem is personification of a person through the symbol of a house, the person doesn't seem to think they are worth much. When I read this poem, I read fast until I am out of breath and with a lot of accentuation. i can feel the uncomfortably and sense of urgency, ending in no where to go.
