Comparing Imagery in Frost's Acquainted with the Night and Sexton 's Her Kind

Imagery in Frost's Acquainted with the Night and Sexton 's Her Kind

In order to maximize meaning and overall total effect of a piece of work, writers use various literary devices. These techniques enhance the author's work and add a dimension that results in higher reader satisfaction. Throughout the poems I have read this quarter thus far, I have discovered the use of imagery as a prominent source of literary embellishment. In particular the image of night is used in poems "Acquainted with the Night," written by Robert Frost, and "Her Kind," written by Anne Sexton, to portray a dark and lonely tone. All through both poems there is a dark feeling due to word selection and associations to evil things. The use of night in both cases helps to solidify the idea of loneliness. Each poem puts to work the same image to create the same affect but each work has slight differences and similarities in the way it makes night apply to loneliness.

Imagery can be presented in many different ways. A strong image of night exists all over Robert Frost's piece, "Acquainted with the Night," due to a very descriptive representation of things that happen or belong to the night. By simply describing the details of night Frost can paint a picture of a lonely man. The key to using imagery is to choose images that have very distinct characteristics that associate themselves with that image. Frost's idea of choosing night to portray a sense of being alone is due to the connections of cold, dark, wet and unknowns that go along with the night. The same affect would not be able to be created if the ...

... middle of paper ...

...unt the night with power. Through the use of imagery the writer is able to apply several different meanings by using one simple image. This makes the poems overall affect more efficient in making its point. The composition has become less wordy and is able to make a vivid scene with out the need of extensive descriptions.

Examining the differences and similarities of the two different applications of night as an image of loneliness, is a good way to determine what the overall feel of the poem is. When reading these works one must take the existing mold of an image and see if there are any dual meanings of why the author chose that particular concept. The use of an image as a literary devise allows the piece to touch its readers on a more personal level.