ipl-logo

Analysis Of Edward Hopper's House By The Railroad

493 Words2 Pages

Edward Hopper’s painting, House by the Railroad, portrays an abandoned, Victorian-styled mansion built adjacent to a railroad. Hopper depicts the lonely state of the house by emphasizing the shading of the house, colors, architectural design, and placement. In the poem, Edward Hirsch emphasizes the houses’s “emotions” through the usage of personification, diction and metaphors. Hirsch’s personification of the house provides us insight on how the house is feeling. For instance, he describes the physical appearance of the house by using words like “strange, gawky house”(142) and “faded cafeteria windows”(143). By examining his choice of words, we can visualize the extent of how unappealing and out-of-place the house appears in comparison to other …show more content…

Personification allows the readers to see the world from the house’s persepctive, helping them relate to the house on a personal level. Unlike Hirsch, who directs most of his focus towards the emotional state of the house, Hopper uses indirect forms of communication(e.g. shading, color, shapes and atmosphere) to help readers draw inferences about the house. For instance, the shadow casting the house sets a depressing mood for the painting. The darkness overshadowing the brightness implies that the house attracts no one despite its desire for visitors. Hopper’s emphasis on the shadow sets the mood for the picture, allowing us to visualize the depressing aura of the house. In addition, the house’s dull colors suggest that people’s aesthetic preferences have changed throughout time. Hopper’s choice of color implies that people overlook the house and its qualities, leaving the house abandoned and uncared for. Lastly, Hopper portrays the house in a very isolated atmosphere, drawing attention to its awkwardness. Hopper intended to make the house appear lonely and abandoned because he wanted to draw attention to the emotional burden that change can have on

Show More
Related
1070 Words | 5 Pages

When the children first arrive, the negative description of the place sets the tone. The tone created is dull and boring. For instance, the narrator describes the town as colorless and plain. “A string of houses, weathered grey or peeling gray paint” (39-40). The addition of cold weather also sets the tone since cold weather creates a gloomy atmosphere.

Read More
1543 Words | 7 Pages

Jeannette’s family never had enough money to buy themselves a decent house, so they lived out of rugged shacks, old abandoned buildings, and even out in the desert without any form of shelter. The author would describe each new house that her family moved into in such a way that it would persuade the reader to have such strong feelings of hatred towards Jeannette’s mother and father. Neither Mr. Walls, nor Mrs. Walls could keep a job for any decent amount of time, so after living in a house for a little, the family would get behind on the payments and have to pack their things and move on to a new place. The most memorable example of these terrible houses is the house that the family bought in Welch West Virginia. On page 153, “We called the kitchen the loose-juice room, because on the rare occasion that we had paid the electricity bill and had power, we’d get a wicked electric shock if we touched any damp or metallic surface in the room.”

Read More
1136 Words | 5 Pages

Fighting fire with fire will never put out the flame of indefinite angst within the people of Holcomb. Moreover, Capote applies efficacious imagery in the form of the crumbling Clutter home to enhance the readers’ visual perception of just how fundamental the matter of dying is and its long-term effects on the environment around it. He accomplishes this by providing detailed, imaginative rhetoric to the general scenery of the house that was “deprived of the late owner’s dedicated attention, the first threads of decay’s cobweb were being spun” (Capote 207). This unsettling image, or rather the putrescence embedded within it, inspires a powerful illusion in

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

(Bradbury, 9). The use of personification is applied through the use of weather and emotion. The weather cannot portray real human emotions but it can symbolize anger and fury. The parallels between the children and the house are no mistake. The children’s raw emotions echo through the house, the environments in their lives only cater to them and their feelings.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

The family shows signs of being part of either a low or poor class based off the conditions of the household they are living in and the bareness of their apartment. For instance, the dining room is extremely small and the kitchen seems old and worn out. Correspondingly, the family members seem to lack personality due to to the simple clothing they are wearing. However, the bright colors found interior of the home create a contrast between the dreary environment of the household. This helps convey the message that although the family may not be as economically stable and live a dull life, they still happily interact among one another and come together every evening to have a meal together.

Read More
1568 Words | 7 Pages

“The paint had been waiting warmer weather. The frost in the walls on a day like this would crack and peel it as it dried”. The paint symbolizes Ann’s wanting of change, she is tired of the life she and John share together, she wants to break away from her feelings of isolation and confinement. Although she feels this way, Ann hides these emotions from her husband. She tries to cover the “old woodwork” with paint that looks “new”.

Read More
992 Words | 4 Pages

This is done by Jennifer Egan in order to suggest a unique and robust concept, the environment a person believes and observes around them is a product of their own internal conflict and health. The common maxim, “The beauty you see is a reflection of you“ by Rumi, comes to mind. Personal happiness and positivity in The Keep are introduced throughout the novel by the existence of light or darkness in the eyes of the character, whether that is a sunrise or consuming darkness. This valuable insight by Egan creates a “pool” like that envisioned by Howie and Ann, to dip into and rethink the way we examine the not-so-subjective

Read More
398 Words | 2 Pages

You like some houses better than others and already starting to see a future

Read More
1669 Words | 7 Pages

Additionally , the house that the narrator mentions is illustrated as “ mansion of gloom “ which might be a sign that the aura of the house has something dreadful in it. However , the Narrator reveals something important about his first impression for the house by saying “ I looked upon the scene before me , upon the mere house, upon the bleak walls , upon the vacant eye-like windows ( 3 ).To illustrate , the words such as “ air of heaven , silent tarn , mystic vapor “ used as a reinforcement for making the ambience of the house as gloomy. In fact , in the light of these facts , it could be said that the house has an darkness appearance which might be an indication of its mysterious atmosphere.

Read More
651 Words | 3 Pages

one of the many times he uses imagery throughout this story is when the narrator says, “on his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark windows, and it was not unequal to walking through a graveyard where only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in flickers behind the windows” (Pg 1). By using imagery to compare walking through the neighborhood as walking through a graveyard shows that it is completely silent and there is no activity in any of the houses. Most people wouldn't describe their neighborhood as a graveyard, this also develops the mood. Another time he uses imagery is when the narrator says, “The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow moving like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country” (1). This shows mood because the narrator describes him as a hawk in mid-country, that means that he is all alone in what he feels to be like a barren or abandoned place.

Read More
630 Words | 3 Pages

Edward Hopper was a painter who depicted life in America in the 1920’s. His work was unique, he created work that translated to the lives of americans during his era. Raymond Carver was an American short-story writer and poet, he was credited with reviving what was once thought of as a dying literary form. Both Hopper’s and Carvers art and writing, the characters overcome their crisis of communication, which progressively transforms them throughout the story. Minimalism affects the different types of form in Carver's writing.

Read More
807 Words | 4 Pages

One example of personification is when comes to visit Grant after work: “A little farther over, where another patch of cane was standing, tall and blue-green, you could see the leaves swaying softly from a breeze.” (Gaines 86) The use of personification is effective because it allows the reader to visualise. In this instance, it creates an image of the leaves swaying in the wind.

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

He creates a playful tone towards the harsh environment described in the short story. He describes the lifelike house as if it were a simple minded living being. For example he gave the house features of repetition and used phrases like, “it repeated the date three times for memory 's sake!”. His choice of words are charming and lighthearted rather than unpleasant to the ear. He continues to use these such words throughout even when he begins to talk of the sick scene.

Read More
533 Words | 3 Pages

Nothing could be heard in the desolate town except for the steady and distinct droning of a single house. In the enlightening short story, “There Will Come Soft Rains,” Ray Bradbury used personification to give embodiment and essence to all of the inanimate objects inside the abandoned house. For the period of the short story, the single, lonely house in the city of Allendale, California, continued its busy, endless routine. Not knowing about the nuclear bomb that destroyed the entire city of Allendale in the year 2026. While the house was still running smoothly, “In the kitchen, the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh,” (Bradbury 215).

Read More
1030 Words | 5 Pages

At the same time, going through the narrow entrance to the wide space will give you a bright experience. From the entrance into the lobby, the roof of the entrance is very low, enter the door, the right hand is the stairs, a row of French windows in the south of the living room brings all the rural scenery into the room, which fully reflects Wright's cultural philosophy, that is, not change nature, but close to

Read More

More about Analysis Of Edward Hopper's House By The Railroad

Related Topics

Open Document