Skunk Hour

…

…As in Skunk Hour by Robert Lowell, the armadillo is a spectator. However, unlike the skunk, the armadillo is armored. While nature is affected and destroyed by the fire balloons falling from the sky in The Armadillo, the armadillo, itself, remains virtually unaffected. Although the speaker grows frustrated at its own lack of understanding concerning the destruction of life, it does not feel the loneliness and pain the speaker in Skunk Hour so thoroughly comprehends.