I myself am hell; up Main Street” as would an invading army. Lights turned down, ! Why or why not? … Poetry Out Loud helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. 3. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Lowell grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. . Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 100-year archive of POETRY magazine. The final section of four, the part of Life Studies that “Skunk Hour” appeared in becomes more confessional and more personal than those before it. Even here he seems hesitant about fully entering the poem as an active participant. by Robert Lowell. What undercurrents—about class, for example—do they see in the poem the more they read it? It proposes a need for action by laying out "dying generations" (Yeats' phrase from "Sailing"). And Lowell had inherited something else from his family, too: a debilitating manic depression, whose agonizing cycles repeatedly institutionalized him during this period. How a newly personal mode of writing popularized exploring the self. Nautilus Island’s hermit heiress still lives through winter in her Spartan cottage; her sheep still graze above the sea. The metaphor seems both mocking and derogatory. Paraded the skunk. The poem moves slowly, beginning with a descriptive tone that is somber ("she buys up all / the eyesores facing her shore, / and lets them fall. in the moonlight for a bite to eat. . So the old guard is out to sea, and the Beats and/or the new confessional Lowell are the skunks? Skunk Hour Stanza 5. You can read it that way, but that requires reading into it things that aren't in the text ("Even as he finds himself drawn toward a new, more candid type of poetry..." - sorry, in which line is he so drawn?). as if my hand were at its throat. “Skunk Hour” expresses the turmoil of Lowell’s personal life at this crucial point. Nautilus Island's hermit heiress still lives through winter in her Spartan cottage; her sheep still graze above the sea. She jabs her wedge-head in a cup Probably the most influential poem in the mid twentieth century. Suddenly, in the fifth stanza, the readers are plunged into his mind and experience his trouble. Report Reply. Lowell uses the pronoun “her” to denote nearly every noun in the first stanza. What does a poet risk by being emotionally transparent? He studied at Harvard University and Kenyon College. Discover (and save!) What similarities does Lowell seem to be making between the two in this poem? Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Lowell grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. the eyesores facing her shore, Lowell would never give himself over entirely to the path of the skunk. For Elizabeth Bishop. Lowell, or Lowell's self in the poem, seems to be about to come out with some revelation (perhaps a "confession"), but then seems to suppress it (how about choke it back like his "sob"?). she’s in her dotage. Have students read Bishop’s poem as well, and perhaps briefly introduce their friendship. Even as he finds himself drawn toward a new, more candid type of poetry, he worries (“My mind’s not right”) that this desire is a manifestation of a base impulse, perhaps even a consequence of his mental instability. It also dramatizes an inner debate between the demands of formality and discretion on the one hand and, on the other, the longing for an open and candid poetry that would capture the life of a privileged and educated American man in the middle of the 20th century. of Queen Victoria’s century, In "Skunk Hour," the confessional mirroring of public and private is expressed formally in the poem's symmetrical division into four stanzas about the social environment and four about the poet's "dark night" of voyeurism and incipient madness. It is a poem framed by matriarchal images, and built around an analogy between art and voyeurism. In the early 1950s, Robert Lowell was a successful, even famous poet, yet was writing few poems. Twitter; Facebook; Print; By Robert Lowell (For Elizabeth Bishop)Dedication Lowell’s poem is modeled on Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Armadillo,” which Bishop had dedicated to Lowell. By making Lowell's dilemma in "Skunk Hour" the dilemma of poetry, how to be a poet, etc., you limit his poetic statement to what's in concordance with his entry in the accepted "history of literature," and you limit his language to any action except self-reflexivity. Where does Lowell get most “confessional” in this poem? 2. Robert Lowell - "Skunk Hour" "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell. 1. 3. The refrigerator whinnied into silence. In... heiress still lives through winter in her Spartan cottage; They march on their soles up Main Street: of our back steps and breathe the rich air—, Mind’s Not Right: A Discussion of Robert Lowell's "Skunk Hour", There’s Something Haunting and Nihilistic About Your Hairdresser, Jonathan Edwards in Western Massachusetts. Analysis of "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell Original poem reprinted online here: "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell Originally read: September 19, 2013 More information about the Poet: Robert Lowell. was auctioned off to lobstermen. If they’re comfortable doing so, have them share with the class and discuss how their “confessional” poems differ, or do not, from their usual work. catalogue. my ill-spirit sob in each blood cell, OK, I can see "Skunk Hour" as a "manifesto of sorts." And it is this, perhaps, that injects an element of potential liberation into the scene. Have students read Troy Jollimore’s well-written poem guide, or introduce its main themes to your class. Her son's a bishop. 'Skunk Hour' was the final poem in Life Studies, but it was the first to be completed. The symbols can have many meanings - perhaps we have to look beyond symbols.I actually think the crucial point in this poem, the place where I'd begin, the crisis, comes twice, both times the ellipses appear, once before "My mind's not right" and once before "I myself am hell." Ask students to think about Lowell in his context as a “Confessional Poet,” and perhaps provide some further examples of Confessional poetry for them to read. . 4. It's impossible to say, since he doesn't say, just signifies his silence or incomplete/inconclusive statements using ellipses. 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. Composed of eight six-line stanzas, “Skunk Hour” is one in a series of confessional poems that … As a class, listen to Robert Lowell read his poem (or ask students to read it aloud). Troy Jollimore's first book of poetry, Tom Thomson in Purgatory, won the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. How does your image of the island change throughout the poem, and why? It is not long before we realize the explanation of Lowell’s reluctance to assume responsibility. In "Skunk Hour," the confessional mirroring of public and private is expressed formally in the poem's symmetrical division into four stanzas about the social environment and four about the poet's "dark night" of voyeurism and incipient madness. 3. 4. In the first four stanzas, the poet’s presence is signaled indirectly, through possessive phrases such as “our village,” “our summer millionaire,” and “our fairy decorator.” In stanza five, halfway through the poem, he finally makes a direct appearance: One dark night, (For Elizabeth Bishop)Dedication Lowell’s poem is modeled on Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Armadillo,” which Bishop had dedicated to Lowell. “Skunk Hour” expresses the turmoil of Lowell’s personal life at this crucial point. My mind’s not right. Is all poetry confessional, in some sense? His other poetry collections include At Lake Scugog (2011) and Syllabus of Errors (2015), both published in the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets. Elements of the verse: questions and answers. These echoes fit nicely with the reading of the poem as a manifesto of sorts. Yeats' seems to find eternal harmony in artifice; Lowell ends with a tension, trying to stare down a skunk, it seems.Actually, the text this poem reminds me of is Stephen King's short story "The Langoliers." white stripes, moonstruck eyes’ red fire May 3, 2014 - This Pin was discovered by Sarah Brown. Skunk Hour. Troy Jollimore talks about Robert Lowell's "Skunk Hour.". Maybe he has no words for his experience (maybe just an inarticulate sound). He studied at Harvard University and Kenyon College. 1. He goes up the hill looking for something and either doesn't find it or won't reveal it. Saved by minhnhon poet. Robert Lowell's "Skunk Hour" Get link; Facebook; Twitter; Pinterest; Email; Other Apps; March 23, 2016 Skunk Hour For Elizabeth Bishop. (There is a good review of their correspondence in Poetry, “There’s Something Haunting and Nihilistic About Your Hairdresser.”) Discuss the similarities between the two poems—how are animals described in each? 2. Her son's a bishop. 5. Skunk Hour is arguably one of Robert Lowell’s finest poems. In the last poem of his penultimate book, The Dolphin, Lowell would wonder whether he had “plotted perhaps too freely with my life, / not avoiding injury to others, / not avoiding injury to myself— / to ask compassion. Previous Stanza 4 Next Stanza 6. The groundbreaking and highly influential mid-century master. Lowell’s conflict is also evident in other images he presents. this is poetry.....written by one master to another..Godalmighty..it's wonderful! .” The conflicts that would continue to shape the remainder of Lowell’s artistic career—and, to a great extent, his personal life as well—are all present, microcosmically, in the deeply illuminating self-portrait that “Skunk Hour” ultimately reveals itself to be. What happens within each stanza in the poem, and across stanzas? Her farmer is first selectman in our village; she's in her dotage. We are also happy to take questions and suggestions for future materials. The skunks are presented as outsiders, rebels, figures of strength who have taken over the sleepy town’s Main Street and whose vivid, almost demonic colors—“white stripes, moonstruck eyes’ red fire”—appear in sharp contrast to the wan “chalk-dry and spar spire / of the Trinitarian Church.” The skunks manifest power rather than privilege: they “march . I don't know if I buy it...the poem's not alluding to the poetry scene in any way I see, and it's a stretch to make it an artistic manifesto ("Lowell finds in the mother skunk.. an image for the artist he is becoming.") Small oranges loomed in the orange tree. I began to be tense as a voyeur. Robert Lowell famously wrote “Skunk Hour” for Elizabeth Bishop, who just as famously had written “The Armadillo” for him. Read this poem in other languages. Not the loftiest comparison, but I have to say those skunks, who appear when Lowell finds himself totally isolated, really made me think of the langoliers. of the Trinitarian Church. This image is followed later by the blood cell that houses Lowell’s sobbing spirit in stanza six, and the “red fire” of the skunks’ “moonstruck eyes” in stanza seven. Troy Jollimore's first book of poetry, Tom Thomson in Purgatory, won the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. He's about to describe his own experience in the town. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, H.D., Maya Angelou, and more. Open it up, please! my Tudor Ford climbed the hill’s skull; Robert Lowell’s “Skunk Hour” appears as the last poem in his career-altering book Life Studies, published in 1959, but as Lowell described to Al Alvarez, a fellow writer and critic, the poem was the first in the book to be completed. My desk light softened beyond the verandah. What is the effect of such a late entrance? of our back steps and breathe the rich air— her sheep still graze above the sea. we’ve lost our summer millionaire, Stanza 5. Have students read Bishop’s poem as well, and perhaps briefly introduce their friendship. Circle all you can find and write a poem that uses the same “color scheme.”. Does “Skunk Hour” have a rhyme scheme? It is a poem framed by matriarchal images, and built around an analogy between art and voyeurism. Lowell’s poem begins with seemingly straightforward description, but what kinds of words does he use to describe “Nautilus Island” and its inhabitants? His other poetry collections include At Lake Scugog (2011) and Syllabus of Errors (2015), both published in the Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets. Dec 23, 2012 - Robert Lowell - "Skunk Hour" "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell. The hermit heiress’s venture into real estate, meanwhile, seems to express a deep-seated revulsion toward the present era, in favor of the bubble of privilege and “hierarchic privacy” that she desires to preserve. MAPS welcomes submissions of original essays and teaching materials related to MAPS poets and the Anthology of Modern American Poetry. But the skunks are an ambiguous solution, though, right? The Poetry Foundation Library is open to the public prior to our December Open Door Reading. Cam M. Roberts. Yet what is most clear is that the skunk is entirely unconcerned with our reaction to her. More than 4,000 biographies of contemporary and classic poets, including Langston Hughes, E.E. The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Lowell’s poem seems divided in half by the startling admission, “My mind’s not right…” Write a poem that suddenly turns on an unexpected statement by its speaker. . Discussing the important poem “ Skunk Hour,” Perloff says that the “One dark night” of that poem—“the painful moment of terror and anxiety that leads to a renewal of self-insight and understanding—this is the central experience that Lowell’s self undergoes.” The first framing matriarchal image to which we are introduced is “Nautilus Island’s hermit / heiress”: Nautilus Island’s hermit He is engaged in illicit and voyeuristic activity, spying on the “love-cars” in which young lovers, inspired by the era’s pop songs, are pursuing their furtive trysts. In a span of about three years, Lowell turned 40 and became both an orphan and a parent. Skunk Hour Themes Mental illness and self-loathing This poem begins by looking at other characters in this coastal town, dodging the speaker's view of himself. Write a poem that, like Lowell’s, describes an encounter between human civilization and nature. It was the last poem in an important volume of poetry titled Life Studies, one of Lowell's most influential creations. Get an answer for 'I am writing a poetry explanation on "Skunk Hour," by Robert Lowell. . Her farmer This inner conflict reaches its climax in stanza six, before giving way to a new set of images: A car radio bleats, The speaker, an ambiguous “we” dangling over the story, tells the readers bluntly that the heiress' son is a bishop, a farmer on her farm holds a place in the … I watched for love-cars. 1. Beginning in the third stanza, Lowell introduces a series of images relating to the color red: The season’s ill— Skunk Hour; Poem Talk. After discussing Confessional poetry as a movement and an idea, have students write their own “confessional” poems. . who seemed to leap from an L. L. Bean American culture was changing rapidly and dynamically in those postwar years, and Lowell—due in part to his encounters with Allen Ginsberg and Beat culture—was beginning to feel that his work was archaic and staid. How many colors does “Skunk Hour” mention? of sour cream, drops her ostrich tail, Skunk Hour (for Elizabeth Bishop) Nautilus Island's hermit heiress still lives through winter in her Spartan cottage; her sheep still graze above the sea. While she may be a stand-in for Lowell’s mother, at a deeper level she represents Lowell himself, and his fears of what he might become: an isolated, irrelevant creature of the past, ensconced in his social class like an island dweller facing an empty shore. Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. Hey, there are interesting echoes with "Sailing" - thanks for that. The premise: a plane flies through some sort of warp and ends up outside time, slightly in the past, where the world is an unpeopled stage - then a host of little monsters - the langoliers - come through and start devouring reality itself. By Robert Lowell. Kelly Writers House impresario Al Filreis leads a lively roundtable discussion of a single poem with a series of rotating guests including Tracie Morris, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, erica kaufman, Charles Bernstein, Sawako Nakayasu, Simone White, and others. Phrases such as “Spartan cottage” and “Queen Victoria’s century” suggest specific historical eras that contrast with the liberalized, modernistic present. It perfectly captures the troubles of society and the individual while also offering a powerful and natural symbol that opposes both. I am having some trouble identifying some of the symbols and themes.' Two of these images are explicitly linked to animals, while the third is connected to Lowell himself, metaphorically reinforcing the ongoing inner conflict between the poet’s civilized self and his wilder impulses. want some critical comments for understanding the text. under the chalk-dry and spar spire The Modern American Poetry Site is a comprehensive learning environment and scholarly forum for the study of modern and contemporary American poetry. I would like to translate this poem » What do you think this poem is about? We are beyond her notice—almost, one senses, beneath her contempt. Her farmer is first selectman in our village, she's in her dotage. . Her son’s a bishop. The structure of the poem, we now realize, is highly symmetrical: two stanzas devoted to a matriarchal figure; two to a society in crisis; two to an individual—the poet—in crisis; and two to a society led by an alternative matriarchal figure who represents a potential resolution to Lowell’s dilemma. Subscribe. His mother, with whom he had had a complex and difficult relationship, embodied the “double-edged sword”—liberty and privilege on the one hand, social constraint and oppressive propriety on the other—that his Boston family’s high social status represented. . Why might both poets choose un-heroic, even unappealing, animals like armadillos and skunks to base their poems around? is first selectman in our village; a mother skunk with her column of kittens swills the garbage pail. His poems have appeared in the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, the Believer, and other... How a newly personal mode of writing popularized exploring the self. .” I hear What kinds of wildlife do you see in your daily life? Where does the speaker himself enter the poem? Lines 25-26. Free Poetry; Quotes; Publish your Poems; Home » American Poets » Robert Lowell. Both poems offer transformations; Yeats explicitly wants to transform away from nature, while Lowell implies a move (maybe even a descent?) Lowell’s admiration of them, and the potential freedom they represent, is palpable. Go through the poem and circle all the rhymes—what effect do the rhymes have on you as you read the poem? Skunk Hour, poem by Robert Lowell, published in Life Studies (1959). For Example: love, art, fashion, friendship and etc. Should it be? Circle all the pronouns in “Skunk Hour.” What do you notice about they organize the poem? Night after night. I expected her like a visitor. How would the poem be different if the stanzas were rearranged? . only skunks, that search Sarah Ruhl discusses her play "Dear Elizabeth," based on letters and poems of two iconic American poets. the hierarchic privacy Compare their description to the opening stanzas—what do you notice about Lowell’s word choices? “Skunk Hour” depicts a man at a moment of crisis. Though he would become known as one of the first and most significant of the so-called Confessional poets, his poetry would eschew the uninhibitedness and frequent anti-intellectualism of many of the Beats. How does his “confessional” language differ from the other kinds of language at work? heiress still lives through winter in her Spartan cottage; The hermit heiress owns everything in her little world; she seems to know no form of relationship other than that of possession. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Award winner in 1970, and the recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976. Her son’s a bishop. The link between poetry and voyeurism is the vertebral metaphor of the poem: Lowell’s spying is a metaphor for his art, which, as he was coming to realize, could not be as honest as it needed to be without revealing confidences and risking pain. 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