Skunk Hour Essay -- essays research papers

Frustrations armored AromaSkunk Hour by Robert Lowell and The Armadillo by Elizabeth Bishop are deuce closely related poems. Both share the theme of an animal carrying with it innate defenses, and the image of an isolated spectator. However, there is one important contrast surrounded by 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 victimization the skunk as a descriptive element for his character, Robert Lowell increases the distance amongst 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 background for Robert Lowells choice in animals becomes obvious. Utilizing such an isolated animal to double the thoughts of the speaker, Lowell considerably strengthens the dis tance between the speaker of the poem and the "love-cars" (Lowell 11) being watched. pull down 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.&9&9&9One dark night,&9&9&9my Tudor crossbreeding climbed the hills skull&9&9&9I watched for love-cars....