Skunk Hour Essay
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 ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...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 Armadillo.
At the end of the poem, Lowell contrasts as well as likens the character to the nocturnal skunk.
			Nobody's here –
			only skunks, that search
			in the moonlight for a bite to eat
				(Lowell 36–38)
Like the skunks of the poem, the speaker is a creature of the night. Although he does not search for food as the skunks do, the speaker may very well be searching for a bite of life.
	In The Armadillo by Elizabeth Bishop, the speaker is once again a spectator of sorts, watching "the frail, illegal fire balloons appear" (Bishop 33). Again, like the speaker in Skunk Hour, this character is lonely. In the fifth stanza, the hot air balloons are fading into distance and the darkness of night. However, the spectator feels forsaken by their departure.
		
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...
No comments:
Post a Comment