Skunk Hour

Frustration’s Armored Aroma Skunk Hour by Robert Lowell and The Armadillo by Elizabeth Bishop are two closely related poems. Both share the theme of an animal carrying with it natural defenses, and the image of an isolated spectator. However, there is one important contrast between these poems: The Armadillo portrays a creature who cannot comprehend the events destroying the life about it, whereas the speaker in Skunk Hour understands, possibly too well, the events affecting its life. By using the skunk as a descriptive element for his character, Robert Lowell increases the distance between the character and the brief glimpse of society portrayed in the poem. Skunks, generally, are avoided by everyone because of their reputation for spraying unwelcome visitors with a noxious vapor. Here, the reason for Robert Lowell’s choice in animals becomes obvious. Utilizing such an isolated animal to parallel the thoughts of the speaker, Lowell considerably strengthens the distance between the speaker of the poem and the “love-cars” (Lowell 11) being watched. Even if the occupants of those cars knew they were being observed, chances are they would not associate themselves with the speaker. In addition, Robert Lowell portrays his character as something akin to a stalker, illustrated in the following excerpt. One dark night, my Tudor Ford climbed the hill’s skull; I watched for love-cars. (Lowell 25-27)

Why would anyone be out alone, searching for lovers who do not desire intrusion? The speaker answers this question in the second half of the stanza. Lights turned down, they lay together, hull to hull, where the graveyard shelves on the town… My mind’s not right. (Lowell 27-30) Here, the speaker admits his actions are wrong. Later in this paper, the fact that the speaker in Skunk Hour is lonely will become an important contrast to the character in The