Analysis Of Robert Lowell's Skunk Hour

926 Words2 Pages

Robert Lowell’s “Skunk Hour” is an irony of the disorder of the social order that is altered by the poet’s overwhelming depression translated in his passage, “I myself am hell; nobody’s here” (Lowell 1946 lines 35-36). As a result, it is very possible to see the speaker admits that he is ill. “My mind’s not right” (Lowell 1946 line 30). This poetry technique uses a dark and strange theme throughout the stanzas. “Only skunks that search in the moonlight for a bite to eat. They march on their soles up Main Street” (Lowell 1946 lines 37-39).This half of the poem is far more descriptive of what the skunks do at night. The author creates an uneasiness feeling in his passages that are consistent with depression fuelled, and exaggerated gloomy
It is repeatedly obvious that they serve a purpose to reinforce both crucial themes of the previous sections. The skunks, for all their mixture of energy and life into the scene, sustain the general image of decay and neediness.
The concluding impression is of a somewhat grim unhappiness in which nature and the waste of civilization have sunk into a sort of weary balance. Lowell’s personification of skunks helps to strengthen this as their humanization helps the audience understand their social meaning. They also represent Lowell’s own personal issues demons that is embodied by his insecurities which is documented in the second section of this short story. This humanization of one’s own emotional issues and view are not common in Lowell’s poems. However, the speaker is just representing how sad his soul is. This is similar to the representation of his issues in “Skunk Hour”. Lowell’s short story is a mixture of emotions and sadness and filled with an expression of his depression. The “Skunk Hour” uses many different poetic techniques to support its themes, many of which appear regularly in Lowell’s works, others are distinctive to “Skunk Hour” as it was written at a particularly turbulent time in his life, and therefore is not tell-tale his

Open Document