Edward Hirsch

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Edward Hopper And The House By The Railroad (1925) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABCD EFEG HIJK LMDN OPQR LSTU VWXY ZCAA2 B2C2D2B BLE2F2

Out here in the exact middle of the dayA
This strange gawky house has the expressionB
Of someone being stared at someone holdingC
His breath underwater hushed and expectantD
-
This house is ashamed of itself ashamedE
Of its fantastic mansard rooftopF
And its pseudo Gothic porch ashamedE
of its shoulders and large awkward handsG
-
But the man behind the easel is relentlessH
He is as brutal as sunlight and believesI
The house must have done something horribleJ
To the people who once lived hereK
-
Because now it is so desperately emptyL
It must have done something to the skyM
Because the sky too is utterly vacantD
And devoid of meaning There are noN
-
Trees or shrubs anywhere the houseO
Must have done something against the earthP
All that is present is a single pair of tracksQ
Straightening into the distance No trains passR
-
Now the stranger returns to this place dailyL
Until the house begins to suspectS
That the man too is desolate desolateT
And even ashamed Soon the house startsU
-
To stare frankly at the man And somehowV
The empty white canvas slowly takes onW
The expression of someone who is unnervedX
Someone holding his breath underwaterY
-
And then one day the man simply disappearsZ
He is a last afternoon shadow movingC
Across the tracks making its wayA
Through the vast darkening fieldsA2
-
This man will paint other abandoned mansionsB2
And faded cafeteria windows and poorly letteredC2
Storefronts on the edges of small townsD2
Always they will have this same expressionB
-
The utterly naked look of someoneB
Being stared at someone American and gawkyL
Someone who is about to be left aloneE2
Again and can no longer stand itF2

Edward Hirsch



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