Acquainted With The Night Essay

“A Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost. Frost was exposed to literature from an early age both of his parents were teachers. He started writing at the age of fifteen; he admired writers such as William Shakespeare, Robert Buras, and William Wordsworth. (Spencer and Chris) I believe that Frost wrote “Acquaint With The Night” because it was during a time of depression just after the stock market crash in 1929, unemployment peeked and a lot of people lost everything, it was a time of darkness, I believe that this is why he wrote it and has a lot to do with the unhappy tone of the poem. “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost himself states “One

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

Night is described as having a “calm, majestic presence”, which depicts her as having kind features or a restful dignity. She is not necessarily a benevolent creature however since in line 9 Longfellow states: “I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight.” There is a balance of happiness and sorrow that creates a beautiful sound from the room of Night. This kind existence of Night seems to draw near to the weary or the ones who suffer, but as one can see later in the poem, the existence of Night, though peaceful, is death itself. In this poem however, death is one that is welcomed, not one that is

The poem as a whole appear to be a metaphor for, or symbolic of the depression and loneliness felt by the speaker . In the very first line “I have been one acquainted with the night” (I. 1), tells that the speaker knows of the ‘night’ (a metaphor for loneliness and depression). The speaker also personifies the night by being ‘acquainted’ with it. In the second line, the usage of the word ‘rain’ is a metaphor for life’s problems, which the speaker seems to be immersed with . In the third and fourth lines, the speaker uses hyperbole when he says “I have outwalked the furthest city light/ I have looked down the saddest city lane” (I. 3; II. 1), a feat not humanly possible, because the farthest city light would suggest the end of the city, and the word ‘saddest’ is a relative emotion. The words “city light” is also symbolic of a community and friends, which the speaker is trying to

Our lives, whether we realize it or not, revolve around emotion. When plagued with sadness, we find it hard to function; our daily lives hindered and impossible to live. When we feel jubilant, life is comfortable and satisfying. But whatever the circumstance, emotions will eventually lose their grip and sink into the river of time, forgotten until mentioned again. Depression, however, has a profound effect. Depression doesn't fade like emotion; it clings to the minds of the unfortunate souls possessing it, never surrendering its grip. It cemented itself onto the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Mark Twain, and Robert Frost. Frost's poem "Acquainted with the night," offers insight into the life of a lonely soul affected by depression. Frost emphasizes the seclusion depression brings, isolating those who have it from the rest of the world.

"Acquainted with the Night" is much more than a poem. It is a mantra, a way of life. This poem can rid the blinding haze from one's eyes. A tiny dose of optimism can go along way--even "beyond the furthest city

The point of view of the two poems differ in the sense that one is more personalized than the other. Although the narrator of the second poem acknowledges that others may also feel depressed when he opens the poem with “I have been one acquainted with the night.”, the poem is kept more personalized by the repeated use of phrases such as “I have”. The first poem, on the other hand, is more general, as shown by the use of the words “we”, “our”, and “The Bravest”. Both poems begin with a negative connotation, the first referring to light being put away, and the second to being “acquainted with the night”.

The use of imagery is very strong throughout this poem. Words like “mellow,” “pale,” “drowsy,” “melancholy,” and “dull,” suggest to the reader that the atmosphere surrounding the speaker is dark and gloomy. Even lights in the street is not sufficient to brighten the surroundings, being that the only source of light stated is the pale dull pallor of an old gas light. The haziness of this light with darkness of the night, evokes a sense of sluggishness in the atmosphere. The singer speaks of his struggles and opinions, and it is reflected in the third stanza: “With his ebony hands on each ivory key”

"It's rickety down to the dark," states the first line. The poem starts out with

In his poem “Acquainted with the Night,” Robert Frost describes a character who spends his nights wandering the city streets. The reader can infer from both Frost’s tone, and the time of day in which the speaker chooses to walk, that the character is in a world of isolation. This is especially evident in the lines, “When far away an interrupted cry/ Came over houses from another street,/ But not to call me back or say good-by” (Frost 898). From this line, the reader understands that the poem’s speaker feels as if he is completely isolated in the world. In a similar way, E. E. Cummings poem “anyone lived in a pretty how town” expresses the loneliness felt by people of this era. Cummings creative use of pronouns gives the poem a double entendre. The characters, anyone and noone, can represent their literal meanings, or a single man and woman. Therefore, when Cummings writes that “noone loves him more by more,” he could mean that anyone is being loved greatly, or not at all. This loneliness is expressed yet again when Cummings informs the reader, “Women and men (both little and small)/ cared for anyone not at all” (Cummings 922). The works of both Frost and Cummings both portray the hardship that accompanied the feeling of loneliness during the modern

With “Night,” the eighth poem and first of the second section, darkness descends, bringing with it a series of scenes horrifying and pathetic.

“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.

It was three o’clock in the morning. Outside the window, the sky was still dark. There were barely any stars in the sky, and no cloud cluttered. The sky was painfully dark and motionless. Except for the faint light from the moon, everything seems lifeless. In a dark room, there was a girl sitting up on the bed, leaning on the wall beside her. She was looking out the window. Through the window, the girl can see the sky and the top of some buildings, however, nothing special or attractive. But, the girl has been staring at it for almost an hour now, silently and peacefully.