Skunk Hour
Encyclopedia
'Skunk Hour' is one of Robert Lowell
's most frequently anthologized poems. It was published in his groundbreaking book of poems, Life Studies
, and is regarded as a key early example of Confessional poetry.
, but it was the first to be completed. Lowell began work on the poem in August 1957, and the poem was first published, alongside the poems "Man and Wife" and "Memories of West Street and Lepke" in the January 1958 issue of the Partisan Review
.
He describes the writing of it thus: "I began writing lines in a new style. No poem, however, got finished and soon I left off and tried to forget the whole headache. ... When I began writing 'Skunk Hour', I felt that most of what I knew about writing was a hindrance. The dedication is to Elizabeth Bishop
, because re-reading her suggested a way of breaking through the shell of my old manner." The poem was in part based on Bishop's poem "Armadillo" and Lowell wrote that "her rhythms, idiom, images, and stanza structure seemed to belong to a later century... Both 'Skunk Hour' and 'The Armadillo' use short line stanza
s, start with drifting description, and end with a single animal."
In the same essay, Lowell describes the setting as "a declining Maine sea town. I move from the ocean inland."
The poem makes reference to The New Testament, John Milton
's Paradise Lost
, and to the pop song "Careless Love
."
said that [the skunks] were delightful creatures. . . and John Berryman
wrote. . .[that the skunks] were utterly terrifying, catatonic creatures." Lowell concludes that, "both [interpretations] could be right."
Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...
's most frequently anthologized poems. It was published in his groundbreaking book of poems, Life Studies
Life Studies
Life Studies is the fourth book of poems by Robert Lowell. Most critics consider it one of Lowell's most important books, and the Academy of American Poets named it one of their Groundbreaking Books. The book won the National Book Award for poetry in 1960.-Publication:Life Studies was first...
, and is regarded as a key early example of Confessional poetry.
Composition
'Skunk Hour' was the final poem in Life StudiesLife Studies
Life Studies is the fourth book of poems by Robert Lowell. Most critics consider it one of Lowell's most important books, and the Academy of American Poets named it one of their Groundbreaking Books. The book won the National Book Award for poetry in 1960.-Publication:Life Studies was first...
, but it was the first to be completed. Lowell began work on the poem in August 1957, and the poem was first published, alongside the poems "Man and Wife" and "Memories of West Street and Lepke" in the January 1958 issue of the Partisan Review
Partisan Review
Partisan Review was an American political and literary quarterly published from 1934 to 2003, though it suspended publication between October 1936 and December 1937.-Overview:...
.
He describes the writing of it thus: "I began writing lines in a new style. No poem, however, got finished and soon I left off and tried to forget the whole headache. ... When I began writing 'Skunk Hour', I felt that most of what I knew about writing was a hindrance. The dedication is to Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1949 to 1950, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1956 and a National Book Award Winner for Poetry in 1970. Elizabeth Bishop House is an artists' retreat in Great Village, Nova Scotia...
, because re-reading her suggested a way of breaking through the shell of my old manner." The poem was in part based on Bishop's poem "Armadillo" and Lowell wrote that "her rhythms, idiom, images, and stanza structure seemed to belong to a later century... Both 'Skunk Hour' and 'The Armadillo' use short line stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
s, start with drifting description, and end with a single animal."
In the same essay, Lowell describes the setting as "a declining Maine sea town. I move from the ocean inland."
The poem makes reference to The New Testament, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
, and to the pop song "Careless Love
Careless Love
"Careless Love" is a traditional song of obscure origins.Blues versions are popular; the lyrics change from version to version, but usually speak of the heartbreak brought on by "careless love." Frequently, the narrator threatens to kill his or her wayward lover.The song's melody also is used in...
."
Interpretation
During his Guggenheim Reading from 1963, Lowell notes that there have been conflicting interpretations of the final image of skunks in the poem. He states that "Richard WilburRichard Wilbur
Richard Purdy Wilbur is an American poet and literary translator. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989....
said that [the skunks] were delightful creatures. . . and John Berryman
John Berryman
John Allyn Berryman was an American poet and scholar, born in McAlester, Oklahoma. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and was considered a key figure in the Confessional school of poetry...
wrote. . .[that the skunks] were utterly terrifying, catatonic creatures." Lowell concludes that, "both [interpretations] could be right."
Sources
- Elizabeth Bishop and Her Art, edited by Lloyd Schwartz, Sybil P Estess, University of Michigan, 1983
- Robert Lowell: Interviews and Memoirs, edited by Jeffrey Meyers, University of Michigan, 1988
- Twentieth-Century American Poetry by Christopher Beach, Cambridge University Press, 2003
- August Kleinzahler: 'Living on Apple Crumble: Just the Thing: Selected Letters of James Schuyler 1951-91', in London Review of Books, Vol. 27 No. 22, 17 November 2005