Synopsis
This volume, collected and introduced by Gail Levin, combines for the first time classic pictures by Edward Hopper and the poems they inspired. His much-loved Nighthawks and House by the Railroad are gathered along with many other favorites that have captured poets' imagination. The wide range of poets whose writings pay tribute to this great artist:
William Carpenter Anne Babson Carter Stephen Dunn W.R. Elton Edward Hirsch John Hollander Larry Levis Robert Mezey Lisel Mueller Joyce Carol Oates Toney Quagliano Lawrence Raab David Ray Anthony Rudolf Ira Sadoff Grace Schulman Sue Standing John Updike Samuel Yellen
BookList
Hopper's lushly rendered, enigmatic paintings are studies in solitude and the emotions that state can arouse. Hopper scholar Levin, author of the revelatory "Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography" , has long recognized the poetics and implied narratives of Hopper's provocative paintings, as have a number of admiring poets. In this beautiful and thoughtful little volume, color reproductions of Hopper's paintings are matched with the poems they've inspired. This juxtaposition works well as word and image play in stirring counterpoint. The workings of the poets' minds seem somehow more revealed than usual as the object of their scrutiny is so readily at hand, while the rich nuances of Hopper's haunting compositions are intensified as the reader-viewer compares his or her own interpretations with those of the poets. Levin has collected poems by John Updike, Lawrence Raab, Stephen Dunn, John Hollander, Joyce Carol Oates, Edward Hirsch, Grace Schulman, and Sue Standing, among others, to accompany a set of now classic Hopper paintings.