Skunk Hour Quizzes

Skunk Hour Quiz

1 What step does the heiress take to enhance her privacy?
She plans to move somewhere more isolated

She buys properties surrounding hers

She lets her house fall into disrepair to discourage visitors

She cuts off all of her relationships with friends and family
2 Why does the heiress desire privacy?
She has been spurned by an ex-lover

She has become paranoid in her old age

She is nostalgic for a time when social hierarchies were more prominent

She does not approve of her son's career as a bishop
3 What covers Blue Hill?
A thick layer of clouds

A foot of snow and ice

Dead grass

A red fox stain
4 What happens to the millionaire's yawl?
It sinks at sea

It is mysteriously stolen

It is auctioned off

He hands it down to his son
5 The decorator changes the colors in his shop to...
yellow

green

red

orange
6 The skunks search the streets for
Something to eat

Prey to kill

Their lost kittens

The speaker
7 The line "I myself am hell" is a reference to...
Lowell's mentor and friend, Allen Tate

Shakespeare's Henry V

The Bible

Paradise Lost
8 What word does the speaker use to describe the skunk's kittens?
Shoal

Column

Wreath

Stream
9 Which queen does this poem mention by name?
Mary, Queen of Scots

Anne Boleyn

Queen Elizabeth I

Queen Victoria
10 When the speaker looks at lovers in their cars, what does he observe just beyond them?
A graveyard

The ocean

Nautilus Island

The Trinitarian Church
11 The rhyme scheme is very strict and consistent.
False

n/a

True

n/a
12 The song that the speaker hears issuing from a radio says, "Love, O ____ Love"
Crude

Useless

Ceaseless

Careless
13 What does the speaker imagine he does to his "ill-spirit?"
He casts it out of himself

He submits to its will

He has its hand to its throat

He threatens it with an awl
14 Which of the following items does not appear in the decorator's shop?
A cobbler's bench

An anchor

A fishnet

An awl
15 Which word would best describe the decorator?
Motivated

Withdrawn

Foolish

Lonely
16 What structure does the speaker call "chalk-dry and spar"?
Main Street

The Trinitarian Church

His childhood home

The heiress's "Spartan cottage"
17 What about the millionaire does the speaker poke fun at?
His perceived stupidity

His clothes

His decadence

His passion for decorating
18 The first stanza mentions two characters related to the heiress. They are:
Her son and her head farmer

Her son and her daughter

Her daughter and her pastor

Her son and her deceased husband
19 Which of the following characters "seemed to leap from an L. L. Bean catalogue"?
The summer millionaire

A man in one of the love-cars that the speaker observes.

The decorator

The heiress
20 What would the decorator like to leave his career for?
A career as a respected artist

To be closer to his family

Marriage to a man

To travel
21 The speaker feels his "ill-spirit" in:
His reflection

His fingertips

His eyes

His blood cells
22 The skunks' eyes are described as
seething

moonstruck

blinded

murky
23 What season is on its way, according to this poem?
winter

fall

summer

spring
24 The speaker indicates that the decorator finds his work
fulfilling but not profitable

unfulfilling and unprofitable

profitable but not fulfilling

fulfilling and profitable
25 The speaker watches the skunk from
his bedroom window

the top of his back steps

his car

the steps of the Trinitarian Church

Skunk Hour Questions and Answers

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Study Guide for Skunk Hour

Skunk Hour study guide contains a biography of Robert Lowell, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Skunk Hour

Skunk Hour essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Skunk Hour by Robert Lowell.

From “Cooked” to “Raw”: Rhyme in Robert Lowell’s Poetry