Robert Lowell: Seasons of the Mind

by Clinton R. LeFort, Elsa Dorfman (Photographer)

Season of the MindRobert Lowell’s poem Skunk Hour is filled with various themes of loneliness, insanity, depression and isolation. This paper selects themes of loneliness and insanity and shows how Lowell created an atmosphere of loneliness and isolation by using figurative and symbol in Skunk Hour.“The season’s ill” (Lowell 13) refers to the exterior season of Nautilus island, but also the interior season of the author. In this sense season stands for something other than itself and can be seen as personification where the season is reflected in the mind of the writer. A season is a time, period or term. In the Skunk Hour season is used in several senses. First, season refers to the actual time the author experiences Nautilus Island where the “heiress still lives thru winter in her Spartan cottage” (Lowell 2) and “A red fox stain covers Blue Hill” (Lowell 17). The “fox stain” refers to the Autumn leaves falling on “Blue Hill.” Secondly, season refers to the interior mind of the narrator. The writer speaks of “loss” (Lowell 13), “fairy/decorator” (Lowell 19-20), “dark night” (Lowell 25), “graveyard shelves” (Lowell 29), and “I myself am hell;/nobody’s here” (Lowell 35-36).

9 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 2014

About the author

My writing career began in grade school, where I became interested in reporting and poetry. I wrote lots of poetry and prose in High School, then developed a philosophy in graduate school. After graduating from LSU and USC I became interested in dramatic writing for theater and film. My latest works have been a combination of spirituality, suspense and philosophy. Back in 2006 I wrote 4 major books, which came out of several small newsletters I registered with the Library of Congress. My present interest are in screenwriting and spirituality; how to express religious truths for the screen.
One discovery as a writer is that you are always searching for the perfect way to say the same basic human experiences with more meaning, helping the reader to remember a word, a phrase a meaningful event so that the author and the reader can relate.