Analysis of the Poem "Acquainted with The Night"

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In “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost, the narrator goes through his night saying where he is and how he is alone. Considering the fact that he doesn’t make eye contact, it shows that he is incapable of interacting with other people. Unfortunately, we never find out what makes the narrator so dejected, but Frost lets us know in his writing how the narrator handles things throughout his late night walking in the city. This poem articulates depression, loneliness, and isolation.

Robert Frost's poem, "Acquainted with the Night," expresses depression. The first line says, "I have been one acquainted with the night" ("Acquainted"). This first line shows that night is a metaphor for depression. The narrator has been acquainted with unhappiness, not just a night. "Against the cityscape the persona sketches the street and the watchman as symbols of potential safety. But against the dark night of the city they produce nothing but despair" (Murray). It is evident that Frost is trying to display the narrator’s battle with sadness and hopelessness. The night could also represent death; therefore, it can make you assume that his depression is a result of losing someone he knew. Something is keeping him awake while others usually would be sleeping at this time. Another line, "I have walked out in rain - and back in rain" ("Acquainted") has the phrase "in rain" twice. This repetition is to set a dismal tone and make you think how awful walking in the rain at night would actually be. It shows how his misery stays constant. "It is the fear of discerning little or nothing in the rainy night. He yearns for an approachable order that societal institutions (the watchman), constructions (the city), and conventions cannot offer and have no...

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...ses such themes as sorrow and aloneness, basically all negative feelings associated with the gloomy night.

Works Cited

"Acquainted with the Night." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 35. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 1-21. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

Frost, Robert, "Acquainted with the Night," in Complete Poems of Robert Frost, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1967, p. 324; originally published in West-Running Brook, Henry Holt, 1928.

Keat Murray, "Robert Frost's Portrait of a Modern Mind: The Archetypal Resonance of ‘Acquainted with the Night,’" in Midwest Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4, summer 2000, pp. 370-84.

Kyoko Amano, "Frost's ‘Acquainted with the Night,’" in Explicator, Vol. 65, No. 1, Fall 2006, pp. 39-42.

Melodie Monahan, Critical Essay on "Acquainted with the Night," in Poetry for Students, Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010.

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