Robert Frost's 'Acquainted With The Night'

Frost used several different words in the poem as metaphors because they were used to describe something else. For example rain, was used for the meaning of sadness or sorrow. Night, was used for describing depression or loneliness. Luminary clock, represented the light of the moon. The watchmen, I believe meant for judgment within himself. Light, represented hope. Putting meaning to the metaphors that Frost used helps you to really get a better understanding of the poem.

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.

For example, the "O luminary clock" is not in fact a clock. It is actually representing the moon in this particular poem, and the moon is so important because it triggers a sudden epiphany for the narrator of the poem. The poem contains phrases such as "watchman on his beat" and "acquainted with the night," once again, to explain where the poem is taking place and what time of the day it is as well. (Frost) Frost's poem paints a vivid picture of where the poem is taking place. His simplistic use of imagery in this poem contributes to the general theme of "Acquainted with the

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 also uses personification in line three and continues to emphasize his point. He uses a metaphor when he says, “her early leaf’s a flower”. He uses this metaphor to say that life is a beautiful thing and seems perfect at first. In line four, the author transforms the poem from beautiful beginnings to horrible endings with the word “but”. He begins his transition to reveal that all beautiful things can not stay. He uses connotation with the word “hour”. The word “hour” uses connotation for it means a hour literally, but it is also had a deeper meaning that reveals the fact that everything in life only lasts a very brief period.

Right at the beginning of the poem, Frost’s unnamed speaker declares that they “have been one acquainted with the night” (Frost 1). The word acquainted implies a relationship that, while not unfriendly, lacks the close emotional connection often seen in friendship while the night itself, despite often being characterized as a symbol of death and darkness, can also be seen as a time of quiet, meditation, and peace free from the chaos of city life. Therefore, when the speaker says they “have been one acquainted

What makes camping in the woods a peaceful and serene experience yet also creates anxiety when walking city streets at night? What do the woods and the city have in common? Though both are compelling in different ways, they hold more similarities than you may realize. Earnest Hemingway illustrates how tranquil escaping to the isolation of the woods can be in his short story “Big Two-Hearted River”, while Robert Frost demonstrates the fear of isolation in his poem “Acquainted with the Night”. While both works show traumatized characters seeking solace through isolation, both present differing realities of what is found there: for Nick there is peace and reconciliation, and for Frost’s speaker there is only the terror of

The early and later life of Robert Frost was entailed with many hardships that influenced a variety of themes and key concepts within his works such as thematic ideas surrounding the simple pleasures taken for granted in life until they disappear, evident in Frost's poem "Birches," and city life opposed to farm life, evident in "Acquainted with the Night." Robert Lee Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California to William Prescott Frost Jr and Isabelle Moody Frost. The two had on other child, Jeanie Frost, in 1876 when their son was two. Frost childhood was pervaded with hardships stemming mostly from the actions of his father. Frost's father was an alcoholic who drank and gambled the family's funds into oblivion while exercising

The poem has a balanced rhythm and the first line rhymes with the third and final line of each stanza until the final stanza. The final stanza completes the circle and repeats the initial line of the poem. In addition to the rhyming within each stanza, Frost wrote this poem to consistently throughout where each stanza had exactly ten syllables and every other word was stressed while reading. This poem also uses night as a metaphor. Throughout the poem, darkness is represented by the night. It doesn’t represent death, but it is more of a metaphor for depression or sadness. The poem tells of a man that is walking alone at night through a city. The narration of the poem not only uses night as a metaphor, it also uses imagery and symbolism to enhance the depth of the poem. In the poem, the man hears a cry “far away”(Frost 503) and he is said to have “outwalked the city light.”(Frost 503) This symbolism is used to depict the man as being alone and not around anything. He has walked away from all the lights of the city and is in the darkness of the night. No one else is around and people would have a hard time hearing him from where he is. When the man passed a watchman, he “dropped my eyes.”(Frost 503) He seemed shy and distant and refused to make any sort of contact with other individuals. In addition to the darkness, Frost writes that it is raining as the man is walking alone at night. The poet uses the dark setting, the

In his poem, “Acquainted with the Night,” Robert Frost repeatedly utilizes the symbol of “the night.” Night has come to represent many things in literature, from Elie Wiesel’s fire-filled novel to the book Good Night Moon. The only question seems to be which sentiment will be personified; however, Frost characterizes his symbol in a variety of different ways, seemingly suggesting that night is more of a mindset than one specific emotion. Throughout the poem this mindset can be seen to involve monotony, grief, and isolationism. First, the words “I have” are repeated at the beginning of every line conveying, not only a sense that he or she is alone with the word “I,” but also showing disinclination towards anything more vivid than the word “have.”

Most of Frost’s success in American literature came from his capability to speak in poetic but plain language to common people and scholars. His poetry is the culmination, combining all elements of poetic craft and modern themes. What separates him from most poets is instead of writing about his own experiences, Frost wrote about the process of discovery and the relationship between people and their surroundings. Because Frost’s poems operate on so many levels, it is possible for almost everyone to find his or her own beliefs about life reflected in Frost’s poetry. Furthermore, the

Thesis: Robert Frost has used various ways to show the emotions felt by the man in the poem. These ways include a variety of symbolism, expressive imagery, and his individual writing style. He uses these in the poem, “Acquainted with the Night,” to describe the emotions of a man who is going through a state of depression.

Robert Frost, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote “acquainted with the night”. Frost is all about expressing isolation and depression in this poem. Frost reveals that isolating yourself from people and your feelings can cause yourself to experience depression and loneliness. In

Continuing, line 1 establishes the setting of the poem, which is in the city at night. In line 1, Frost also repeats the title of the poem and uses the technique of personification. “I have been one acquainted with the night” (Line 1). This is personification because one can not be “acquainted” with the night . “I walked out in rain—and back in rain (Line 2). The rain could be a metaphor for Frost’s depression. The expression a dark cloud, metaphor for sadness, following someone around, in this case it is the rain; Frost cannot seem to shake this constant negative feeling. Line 3 of the poem reads, “I have outwalked the furthest city light.” Astonishingly, this was the most ironic line and that is because a “city” is usually highly populated, but throughout the poem Frost expresses this emotion of feeling lonely. Frost purposely tremendously isolated himself from the mass. Frost “outwalked” the furthest city “light,” light representing hope, hope that someone will help drag him out

The speakers in Frost’s poems often find themselves captivated by darkness. It is not unusual to read about one of the speakers walking during the night, but sometimes they seem to stop inexplicably. Such is the case in the poem “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The speaker finds himself in a familiar area that he has presumably been to before, but on this evening, he decides to stop so he can, “Watch his (the owner’s) woods fill up with snow” (Lathem 224). In his essay, Frost, and Emerson: Voice and Vision, Alvan S. Ryan writes, “there is the attractions, the seductive and dark beauty of the woods filling up with snow”