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Why Is Robert Lowell Confessional Poetry

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Robert Lowell is a brilliant writer and poet. He is one of the geniuses of his time. Paul N. Calvert said, “The period in which Robert Lowell wrote has been called “The Age of Lowell,” a testament to his genius as a poet,” and this poet was truly a genius. Lowell was born on March 1, 1917 and died on September 12, 1977. Throughout his lifetime, Lowell wrote many poems and even a few books, but he is mostly famous for his works of poetry and the movement in which he utilized. Lowell is famous for complying with the form of Confessional Poetry, a literary term which will later be defined. Some poems demonstrate this movement more than other poems, but most, if not all, of Lowell’s poems contain the ideas of Confessional Poetry. These poems often …show more content…

His way of writing poetry was not known to many poets. He is considered one of the founders of his way of writing, which is now known as Confessional Poetry. From the 1950’s to 1960’s, “poetry of the personal or “I”,” also known as confessional poetry, emerged through writers like Lowell. Confessional Poetry consists of “private experiences” containing “feelings about death, trauma, depression, and relationships,” (“A Brief Guide to Confessional Poetry”). That is why poems like “For the Union Dead” and “History” are considered to be Confessional pieces of poetry; they are written by past experiences. This movement is unique to Lowell’s time. In fact, Lowell actually taught for some time and part of what he taught was Confessional Poetry. That is why, in some cases, Confessional Poetry “has been taken to describe the work of the small circle of Robert Lowell and three of his students – Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and W.D. Snodgrass” (Glaser 25). In short, Confessional Poetry is a movement of writing in which a poet writes about “private experiences,” (“A Brief Guide to Confessional …show more content…

However, this poem is one of the most prominent. Temple Cone simply stated that “”Skunk Hour” is an important example of confessional poetry” and this is a true statement. This poem also has aspects of Lowell’s life; more specifically, “aspects of Lowell’s personal, psychology life,” (Cone). The man in the poem is described as ill and this depicts “Lowell’s personal, psychology life,” (Cone). Another clue that points out that this is a Confessional Poem, is found in lines one through three: “Nautilus Island’s hermit / heiress still through winter in her Spartan Cottage; / her sheep still graze above the sea,” (Lowell). These lines actually depict where Lowell, a man who comes from a “very old, upper-class American family,” spent several summers: Castine, Maine. The setting of this poem alone tells the reader that this is confessional poetry. The poem is set up in a place Lowell is very familiar with; this is partly why this poem is considered Confessional. In the poem, the narrator seems to be struggling in life and is almost depressed and then this “skunk” appears. The skunk in the poem “provides a counterforce to the devastating effects of the world at large,” and it distracts the speaker from his depression and therefore turn his focus to survival rather than thriving (Cone). This “counterforce” or “skunk” can be seen in the last two stanzas of the poem. Lowell describes the illness or depression that the speaker is

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