This essay seeks to examine the structure of Robert Lowell`s Life Studies in terms of its primary theme. The collected poems in Life Studies were composed in different periods and published in different journals; Lowell says that he did not aim at creating one theme by collecting these poems. However, the collected poems achieve one theme : an investigation of the poet`s own self in the world. This achievement results from a meticulous arrangement of these poems. Life Studies consists of four parts, and each preceding part is connected with its foreshadowing of the following part. Particularly, the opening poem, "Beyond the Alps," introduces the central theme of the following poems, while the closing poem, "Skunk Hour," summarizes the overall atmosphere of the collected poems and it constitutes the conclusion of Life Studies. I believe that the structure of the book comes close to the structure of a well-wrought short story.