“Skunk Hour” by Robert Lowell and the Confessional and Autobiographical Quality of the Twentieth-Century American Poetry

Robert Lowell is one of the representatives of confessional poetry, which gained some popularity in the 20th century among American poets like Sylvia Plath, and "Skunk Hour" is one of his many poems that carries the quality of the movement. The literature of twentieth-century America was affected by many different views, ideals, and experiences of the poets as well as the situations that were in place at the time. The negative impact that the two world wars had on people’s mental and emotional states was reflected, for example, in many poems. Another thing that affected American poetry at that time was the search for new things in every part of life, from art to poetry. While many people continued to write in traditional forms using traditional themes, many others created new ways to represent different people, cultures, opinions, identities, and more. For instance, people of color started to show themselves in the field by putting their issues and opinions in their poetry to make themselves heard and known. Some poets transmitted their emotions and mental states directly to the paper, along with personal elements from their lives, to speak to their readers on a more personal level. Moreover, the poets did not stick with the traditional and singular form of poetry; they used experimental ways while writing. In his essay about his poetry based on other people’s takes on it, Lowell writes as follows: "Looking over my Selected Poems, about thirty years of writing, my impression is that the thread that strings it together is my autobiography, it is a small-scale Prelude, written in many different styles and with digressions, yet a continuing story – still wayfaring" (113). As it can be understood from this quote, Lowell not only wrote in "many different styles" but also incorporated his autobiography into his poems. So, it is safe to state that although some of the American poets of the 20th century maintained the traditional forms and themes of poetry, poets like Robert Lowell brought a new perspective to American poetry by adding confessional and autobiographical insight to it, which was reflected in the style they used.

In "Skunk Hour," the form Lowell uses differs from the traditional forms. As it was mentioned above,

The major poetry from 1945 to 1960 was Modernist in its ironic texture yet formal in its insistence on regular rhyme and meter. Beginning in the late 1950s, however, there were a variety of poets and schools who rebelled against these constraints and experimented with more-open forms and more-colloquial styles. ("Poetry")

Written in eight six-line stanzas with no traditionally regulated rhyme scheme, this poem is an example of poetry written in free verse. Although there was not a consistent rhyme scheme, the poem contains artistically scattered end rhymes and striking internal rhymes, as well as sound repetitions the reader can feel while reading it. An example of these repetitions is the sound "ill." Lowell repeats this sound in each stanza with words like "still," "village," "millionaire," and "hill"... The purpose of these repetitions is to create a flow in the poem and give the impression that the reader is in the mind of the persona. As it will be unfolded in the rest of the paper, "Skunk Hour," like many other confessional poems of the time, is written to reveal the mental and emotional state of the poet as well as his or her life. By letting the reader engage in the process of thinking with this poem, Lowell achieves this. The form of this poem characterizes "Lowell's verse from the 1950s" ("Skunk Hour") and the general state of twentieth-century American poetry.

The poem is also significant for its theme, tone, and atmosphere, all of which reflect the qualities of confessional poetry. In traditional poetry, it is unusual for grotesque themes like suicide, murder, and mental breakdowns to occur, but with the contribution of Robert Lowell and his students who were inspired by him, the poets of the time let these issues into their poetry and reflected their emotional and mental states in the poems of the time. According to Edward Byrne’s take on the subject, "[...] poets’ records of marital infidelities, painful personal failures, mental breakdowns, and incidents of psychological anguish were displayed on the pages for the scrutiny of readers as easily as innocent family photographs might be shared with friends following travels on a vacation trip." It was a natural reaction for these poets to transfer their souls and mind into literature while they were writing. Likewise, Lowell himself states that "All [his] poems are written for catharsis […]" (114). In "Skunk Hour," we see the surroundings through the persona's—presumably the poet's—mental process. The structure and the content of the poem give the impression of driving on the streets of a town to get home while watching around and thinking.

In the first four stanzas, the narrator describes several residents of his coastal resort town in Maine. In the final four stanzas, the narrator isolates himself from the other townspeople, switching his voice from the first person plural to the first person singular and speaking of focusing on his inner turmoil. ("Skunk Hour")

At some point in the poem, the narrator sees a car from which a love song "bleats" and depicts the suicidal state of loneliness he feels from that sight by writing, "my ill-spirit sob in each blood cell,/as if my hand were at its throat..." (Lowell) It is known and indicated by some sources that Robert Lowell himself had mental struggles. So, it is highly probable that he reflected his mental state in his poetry.

The last thing that shows the condition of 20th-century American poetry and Lowell’s effect on it is the autobiographical elements in the poem. The poem starts by giving the location of the narrator in the following stanza:

Nautilus Island’s hermit

heiress still lives through winter in her Spartan

cottage;

her sheep still graze above the sea.

Her son’s a bishop. Her farmer

is first selectman in our village;

she’s in her dotage. 

The narrator makes it clear to the reader that he has a connection to the setting he mentions, "Nautilus Island," by saying "our village." Several sources claim that during the summers, Robert Lowell spent time in Maine, where Nautilus Island is located. This is what makes it clear that Lowell put some things from his life in his poetry, showing the autobiographical quality of confessional poetry.

To conclude it all, it can be stated that even though poets who followed traditional rules, styles, and themes still existed at the time, 20th-century American poetry changed its shape with the contributions of Robert Lowell and his followers, creating a new type of poetry called confessional poetry, which required the poets to pour their souls and lives onto paper and not hesitate to use grotesque themes and elements like murder, adultery, suicide, and mental health issues. "Skunk Hour" by Robert Lowell is just one example of this type of poetry and this period of literature that bears the marks of its poet's life and mind, as well as its style.