It was published in his groundbreaking book of poems, Life Studies, and is regarded as a key early example of Confessional poetry.
Both 'Skunk Hour' and 'The Armadillo' use short line stanzas, start with drifting description, and end with a single animal.
"[6] The poem makes reference to The New Testament, John Milton's Paradise Lost, and to the song "Careless Love."
"[7] During his Guggenheim Reading from 1963, Lowell notes that there have been conflicting interpretations of the final image of skunks in the poem.
"[8] Lowell provides an explanation for the poem's structure as well as his reasoning for the composition's dark tone: "The first four stanzas are meant to give a dawdling more or less amiable picture of a declining Maine sea town.
Sterility howls through the scenery, but I try to give a tone of tolerance, humor, and randomness to the sad prospect.