Acquainted With Night

Individuals, who feel isolated, aren’t necessarily by themselves; they could be surrounded by people but can’t find it in them to communicate with another individual. The poem, “Acquainted with the Night”, by Robert Frost explores the loneliness and despair associated with depression. Furthermore, the poem uses symbolism, irony, and metaphors to convey the perspective and response of Robert Frost towards a crisis and how it defines the writer. Due to Frost’s usage of symbolism throughout the poem, allowing the reader to catch a glimpse of the text, the reader is able to relate to the poet’s situation. Such as, “I have walked out in the rain- and back in rain”.

Robert Frost 's “Acquainted with the Night” is about a man who frequently journeys out at night and roams about the city alone. He is familiar with the atmosphere around him and it’s apparent he has wandered far beyond the city. Throughout the poem the speaker does not communicate with anyone and a sense of silence and suspense pervade his walks. It is understood that the speaker is very lonely on his walks and often finds himself hoping someone would call out to him. As the speaker strolls through the dark city streets midst the night, it’s evident that he is deeply troubled and dismal as the poem develops a gloomy, dejected tone.

The “night” described by frost has many layers of context that the parallelism through the structure

Everybody looks at life from a different perspective. They observe the world through their own unique and exciting pair of lens. Others, however, can walk through life seeing the world through a fragmented pair of lens, once untouched and distinctive, now shattered and melted down by the overwhelming feelings of depression and loneliness, similar to how the narrator feels in Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night." This poem delves deep into the mind of an anonymous person who is walking through the desolate and empty streets outside a city at night, contemplating their swirling emotions of depression and isolation. Robert Frost uses imagery, a depressive tone, and symbolism to convey the theme of isolation in "Acquainted with the Night."

The experience of darkness is both individual and universal. Within Emily Dickinson’s “We grow accustomed to the Dark” and Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night,” the speakers engage in an understanding of darkness and night as much greater than themselves. Every individual has an experience of the isolation of the night, as chronicled in Frost’s poem, yet it is a global experience that everyone must face, on which Dickinson’s poem elaborates. Through the use of rhythm, point of view, imagery, and mood, each poet makes clear the fact that there is no single darkness that is too difficult to overcome.

In Emily Dickenson’s “We grow accustomed to the Dark” and Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night” distinct views of hesitation in life are explained, and are manifested with each authors different point of views, structure, sound, imagery, and metaphors.

The two poems “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Acquainted with the Night” written by Robert Frost are very similar to each other because of the simplistic form of language used and the uses of metaphors. When we first read the poem, it looks like an ordinary poem but once we go in depth and understand the meaning, it becomes so much more. Both of the poem has a very dark, gloomy and lonely setting with a really mysterious tone. There are different metaphors used in each poem to symbolize death; “Sleep” in “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Night” in “Acquainted with the Night.” The characters in the two poem are both in a journey and has come

Frost uses a multitude of poetic devices, including metaphors, irony, symbolism, hyperbole, and personification “Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. to vividly reinforce the desolation in the mind and the surroundings of the speaker. The uncertainty of the time in the end is a reflection of the uncertainty in the duration of isolation that the speaker would have to continue to endure. In conclusion, this poem displays the transition into night figuratively as the author experiences a broken heart. I have been one acquainted with the night.” (V,2 ). This is a beautiful and dark poem that describes the somber emotions that an individual endures after a separation. This poem can be relatable to anyone as we all have experienced some type of sorrow. Hopefully after experiencing something of this nature we can see the bright lights after being acquainted with the

Robert Frost uses symbolism, setting, and the speaker himself to tell the story of the man who has been acquainted with the night. The first literary element used in “Acquainted with The Night” is symbolism. Darkness and light are used in the poem, more being the lack of light. The poem could be seen as a metaphor of depression and loneliness. Even though it is night time, the moon still reaches the streets, a symbol of hope.

Robert Frost had a fascination towards loneliness and isolation and thus expressed these ideas in his poems through metaphors. The majority of the characters in Frost’s poems are isolated in one way or another. In some poems, such as “Acquainted with the Night” and “Mending Wall,” the speakers are lonely and isolated from their societies. On other occasions, Frost suggests that isolation can be avoided by interaction with other members of society, for example in “The Tuft of Flowers,” where the poem changes from a speaker all alone, to realizing that people are all connected in some way or another. In Robert Frost’s poems “Acquainted with the Night,” “Mending Wall,” and “The Tuft of Flowers,” the themes insinuate the idea of loneliness

Dark and night are themes commonly used in literature. These themes can also be found in “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark” by Emily Dickinson and “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost. The first poem, written by Dickinson, focuses more on darkness and the effect it has on people. However, the latter poem, written by Frost, focuses more on the night. The differences and similarities in how the narrator's use darkness and night are shown in the point of views, imagery, and structure.

The poem is centered around the loneliness of the narrator and about how he is unable to convey his thoughts and feelings. The poem begins and finishes with the most important line: “I have been one acquainted with the night” (Frost). Darkness, evil, and loneliness are all connotations of night, so when the narrator states he has been acquainted with the night, he means that all those connotations are extremely familiar to him.

Peta-Gaye WilliamsEnglish 282 Section 1March 21, 2018In the poem “Acquainted with the Night” the poet, Robert Frost, took the reader on his journey through the night. It is being theorized that Frost’s use of several literary devices, was done to increase the intensity, focus and interest of the reader. While reading this poem, the use of such literary devices makes it easier for the reader to imagine being in the situation that Frost was in. The use of various literary devices enabled the reader to establish a greater connection between the reader and the speaker of the poem (which was the poet himself). Frost used repetition as s literary device to draw the reader’s attention to a focal point of the poem thathe believed was important.

The night symbolized death, and the walk was the person's journey to find their lost life. This poem was somewhat disturbing to me. I thought of a lost soul, thirsting to finish a mission that was not completed in life. Frost depicts death in a frightening manner with the contents of this piece of work.

“Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost dramatizes the conflict that the speaker experiences with the outside world, which has rejected him, or perhaps which he has rejected. The poem is composed of fourteen lines and seven sentences, all of which begin with “I have.” Frost’s first and last line, “I have been one acquainted with the night,” emphasizes what it means for the speaker to be “acquainted with the night” (line 1; 14). The speaker describes his walk in the night as journey, in which he has “walked out of rain—and back in rain” and “outwalked the furthest city light” (line 2-3). Through the depiction of the changing weather conditions, Frost signifies the passage of time, perhaps indicating that the narrator has been on his journey for a lengthy period of time and has traveled through many cities. Furthermore, the imagery of the rain at night creates a forlorn atmosphere in the poem.