Acquainted With The Night Figurative Language Essay

When people think about the poem “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost, they might think about how beautifully written it is; however, many people will not think about how depressing the poem actually is. Robert Frost suffered from depression throughout his lifetime. When reading “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost wants his reader to understand the feelings that run through his head every day. Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses imagery, symbols, and other forms of figurative language to convey his depressing message to his readers.
Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses descriptive words to help the reader form a picture in their mind. The reader gets a great image in their mind when Frost states, “I have walked out in rain—and back in

rain./ I have outwalked the furthest city light” (lines 2-3). Frost is using the image of rain falling to create a gloomy mood. This gloomy mood added with the image of a person walking in rain gives the reader a sense of sadness. Frost uses another example of imagery when he says, “I have looked down the saddest city lane” (line 4). After reading this line, the reader gets a mental image of a cold and wet person looking down a dark alleyway. This also helps set the gloomy mood that Frost is trying to convey to the reader.
In addition to using imagery throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost also used symbolism to give the poem a deeper meaning. When Frost states, “I have walked out in rain—and back in rain./ I have outwalked the furthest city light” (lines 2-3) he is using the rain to symbolize the cloud of depression that hangs over him on a daily basis. Frost starts the line off by saying that he has came out of his depression; however, Frost then goes on to tell the reader that his depression comes back to haunt him. When Frost says that he has “outwalked the furthest city light,” (line 3) he is telling the reader that he is so far into his depression that it is hard for him to see anything good since his life is full of darkness. This use of symbolism helps give the reader a great sense of how someone dealing with depression feels when he or she is experiencing his or her symptoms. Another instance of symbolism occurs when Frost says, “I have passed by the watchman on his beat/ And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain” (lines 6-7). Frost is symbolizing the “watchman” with someone close to him, but he is unable to tell him or her the feelings that he deals with when he is depressed. Frost does not want to tell this person his feelings because he does not think they will understand what he is dealing with.
Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses multiple forms figurative language.

The most used form of figurative language in “Acquainted with the Night” is a metaphor. After reading through “Acquainted with the Night,” it becomes apparent to the reader that the entire poem is an extended metaphor for depression. When people think of the word “depression,” the first word that might come to mind is darkness. Individuals who suffer with depression know that it can be a very dark time in their life. Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses darkness as a metaphor for depression since many people that suffer from depression believe that it can be one of the darkest moments of their life. Another form of figurative language that Frost uses in “Acquainted with the Night” is personification. One instance of personification in the poem is when the moon is talking to the speaker. When the speaker looked up at the moon, the moon “Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.” (line 13). The speaker was trying to see what time it was, but it is extremely hard to guess a time by just looking at the moon. The moon is then telling the speaker that his guess is not wrong, but it is also not

right.
During “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses many forms of figurative language, imagery, and symbols to convey his message to his readers. Frost provides images in the minds of his readers to create a gloomy mood. He also uses symbolism, metaphors, and personification so his readers could produce a deeper meaning of the poem. When this poem was written, many people did not take depression seriously. Frost was telling his readers that depression is not something to joke about.