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Analysis Of The Poem ' Acquainted With The Night '

Satisfactory Essays

The phrase "acquainted with the night" is important, because it is used in three strategic places, the title, the first line, and the last line. In the first and last line Frost adds two important additional to the phrase, "I" singular nouns and “one”, a collective noun. Seven of versus begin with “I “this isolates the speaker and places emphasis on his singularity. However “one” implies that others may be added to it. "I have been one acquainted with the night” but if you look deeper into the meaning you will find it could indicate more than he has been acquainted the night. What Frost may be saying is that while he is alone on his journey walking in the rain and looking down the saddest lanes he is not the only person to have done so. He is one in a group of one’s; one is used as a collective noun. Night is the symbol that creates the theme of the poem. The speaker is by choice a lonely, and isolated individual. He walks in rain unaccompanied. Rain adds an element of misery to the poem, “I have walked out in the rain and back in the rain.” It adds a gloomy, and lonely tone to the poem that follows throughout. We do not know why the speaker would walk at night in the rain. We can only speculate as to why the speaker prefers to be isolated. “I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet”. In verse five and six “I have passed by the watchman on his beat” is another example of the speaker avoiding human contact. ”. A night watchman 's job is a lonely, and isolated job

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