thesis statement for acquainted with the night

A Summary and Analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Acquainted with the Night’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Acquainted with the Night’ is a poem by Robert Frost (1874-1963), published in 1928. One of Frost’s most popular short poems, it is slightly unusual in his oeuvre in focusing on the urban rather than rural world of many of his other famous poems.

You can read ‘Acquainted with the Night’ here before proceeding to our analysis of the poem below.

‘Acquainted with the Night’: summary

To summarise: ‘Acquainted with the Night’ is a lyric poem in which the speaker (who may or may not be Frost himself) tells us that he has been one of those people ‘acquainted with the night’, who has walked outside, and home again, in the rain. He has walked far, out to the farthest edges of the city, where the city lights stop and he is plunged into a deeper darkness.

There is a suggestion of pathetic fallacy here: ‘night’ and ‘rain’ are both suggestive of gloomy or melancholic emotional states, and there’s a possibility that Frost’s speaker wants us to think beyond the literal and into the metaphorical: he is no stranger to dark thoughts and to sadness.

Indeed, such an analysis of the speaker’s meaning seems well-founded when he tells us, in the fourth line, he has ‘looked down the saddest city lane’ (where ‘I have looked down’ glimmers, momentarily, with the secondary meaning of looking down in the mouth , or looking depressed).

Seeing a night-watchman out on his patrol, or ‘beat’, the speaker has avoided his eye contact, perhaps because he suspects that if their eyes meet the watchman will ask him what brings him out so late. The speaker would rather not say.

In the third stanza, the speaker tells us he has stopped walking until the echoes of his footsteps cease, and he hears an ‘interrupted cry’ carry through the night air from another street.

But the cry is not meant for him (either someone calling him back or bidding him farewell). A tall clock (perhaps the town clock, in a clock tower, but probably the moon, given the word ‘luminary’, i.e. emitting light) high above him gives him the time, which is ‘neither wrong nor right’.

Perhaps this is because, it being night time, there is no right or wrong time for the speaker: time has largely lost its meaning, in terms of hours and minutes. The poem concludes with the speaker repeating that first line: he is (or has been) ‘one acquainted with the night’.

‘Acquainted with the Night’: analysis

‘Acquainted with the Night’ has been interpreted as a poem about loneliness, but this seems to be a reductive or even misguided analysis: the speaker appears to revel in his solitariness rather than feeling the lack of other human company, and notably, the one person he ‘meets’ in the poem, the watchman, he goes out of his way to avoid speaking to.

One of the problems in interpreting the meaning of the poem is that Frost’s speaker refuses to tell us how he feels about his solitary wandering through the night: he is, to borrow a phrase from the poem, ‘unwilling to explain’. Does he crave human company, does he wish that he had someone to call him back home? Ultimately, as with that interrupted cry in the poem, there is no answer.

Although it doesn’t necessarily strike us as one, ‘Acquainted with the Night’ is an example of the sonnet form : fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter . Or at least, ‘Acquainted with the Night’ appears to be a sonnet, since it has fourteen lines, is rhymed, and is written in (fairly regular) iambic pentameter.

However, the rhyme scheme does not match the rhyme scheme for any established sonnet. The poem is rhymed aba bcb cdc dad aa . And Frost’s decision to divide the poem into four tercets and a concluding couplet further disguises the poem’s links with the sonnet.

In fact, ‘Acquainted with the Night’ is not really a sonnet at all: the fact that it has fourteen lines and concludes, as the English or Shakespearean sonnet does, with a rhyming couplet is where the similarities end.

Instead, the poem is written in the Italian verse form known as terza rima , a three-line stanza form using what’s known as ‘chain rhyme’, where the middle line of each three-line stanza becomes the outer rhymes for the subsequent stanza (so ‘rain’, the middle line of Frost’s first stanza, gives us ‘lane’ and ‘explain’ in the first and third lines of the following stanza; ‘beat’ then gives us ‘feet’ and ‘street’; and so on).

However, Frost’s decision to conclude this pattern of chain rhyme by bringing the rhymes full-circle – i.e. back to ‘night’ rhyme that began the poem – so that the whole thing comes to fourteen lines is certainly interesting, and is perhaps meant to call to mind the sonnet form.

Terza rima was first used by the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who used the three-line stanza form for his religious epic, the Divine Comedy . Dante also wrote sonnets, so we might surmise (though we cannot know what Frost’s intentions were for sure) that Frost was setting out, with ‘Acquainted with the Night’, to write a ‘Dantean’ poem, whose form echoes those associated with Dante.

And thematically, too, there is something Dantean about ‘Acquainted with the Night’, with the dark city doubling up as a land of spiritual darkness, or ‘city of dreadful night’. This is not to say that the poem is religious – it is decidedly secular – but Frost’s choice of verse forms summons the possibility that he wishes to offer a secular, modern take on Dante’s vision of the Inferno.

5 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of Robert Frost’s ‘Acquainted with the Night’”

I always interpreted the “luminary clock” in “Acquainted with the Night” to be the moon. What other kind of clock says the time is “neither right nor wrong”?

I think you’re right. ‘Luminary’, too, suggests the borrowed light of the moon.

Private comment: did you edit after you received my comment (about the moon) or did I simply overlook the fact that you had already specifically mentioned the moon (and its “luminary” quality) in your original analysis of the poem? Anyway, now that I know someone actually reviews the comments (perhaps Mr. IL himself), thank you for your wonderful and very regular insights. Much enjoyed and much appreciated.

Yes – I updated the post after your insightful suggestion (I agree that the moon is more likely, though I’ve offered both possibilities, tentatively, in the analysis). So thanks for the comment, and for your kind words!

A personal remark: all three lines in the first stanza start with the personal pronoun “I”, in the second stanza only the first two lines start with “I”, in the third stanza only the first line contains “I”, the fourth stanza has no “I” at all, and only in the final verse the pronoun “I” reappears. I think it can be interpreted as a progressive diminution of the “I” as the poet walks through the city at night, leaving more and more room for the night to surround him: a kind of dissolution of the “self” in night, being gradually forgotten, to return in the end, maybe at dawn…

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night

Analysis of Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on February 21, 2021 • ( 0 )

Acquainted with the Night (1928)

This terza rima sonnet from West Running Brook features a very different narrator from the country poet who is so familiar to us through such poems as “Birches” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Here the narrator is uncharacteristically urban. Some critics have drawn parallels to Dante’s Inferno, also written in tercets with interlocking rhymes, but the urban setting and images, speculated to be based on Ann Arbor, where Frost was living at the time of composition, seem more reminiscent of William Blake’s “London.” Frost writes, “I have outwalked the furthest city light / I have looked down the saddest city lane,” while Blake writes, “I wander thro’ each charter’d street, / Near where the charter’d Thames does flow. / And mark in every face I meet / Marks of weakness, marks of woe.”

The poem shares something in common with Frost’s other journey poems, such as “Into My Own.” He once again finds himself alone, only this time the setting is very different. The speaker, in a sort of soliloquy, reveals that more than once he has been “acquainted with the night.” The choice of acquainted is intriguing because it suggests a certain knowledge and familiarity without intimacy. An acquaintance is not a friend.

When the speaker says that he “has walked out in rain—and back in rain” he expresses an allencompassing awareness of the night, darkness, and what they hold. He has “outwalked the furthest city light” and “looked down the saddest city lane,” suggesting that night is associated with unexplainable sadness, but it is yet unclear whether this sadness is the speaker’s or is witnessed by the speaker. The question is whether the sadness is inherent in the lane or is the perception of the speaker. When he walks past the “watchman on his beat” and drops his eyes, “unwilling to explain,” he reflects Frost’s often coy persona. He does not say that he cannot explain but rather that he is unwilling to. The speaker’s unwillingness suggests that the sadness comes from within, not from outside, himself.

In the third stanza the speaker stands still, and the sound of feet stops. It is the sound of his own feet that is stopped, and when he hears from far away an “interrupted cry,” the poem grows more complicated. Is the cry from within or outside? The call is not meant to summon the speaker “back” or “say good-by,” writes Frost, but then, what is the cry for? Is it a cry of help? A cry of sadness, as alluded to in stanza two?

The poem’s trodding metrical feet become harder to understand between this fourth stanza and the ending couplet. The break indicated by the semicolon following “good-by” indicates a strange shift. The speaker begins to acquaint his readers with the night when he moves from the present to an “unearthly height” and a “luminary clock against the sky.” The clock is illuminated for the speaker, and its “unearthly height” suggests that it is Time, not time, with which the poem is concerned. That is, while he might be preoccupied with what seems to be earthly time, it is unearthly, transcendental time that vexes him.

When the proclamation comes from on high that “the time was neither wrong nor right,” Frost leaves his readers in the night he has created and begins again by returning to the poem’s title and first line: “I have been one acquainted with the night.”

The figure of night suggests the night that shrouds one in darkness, sadness, and contemplation in the darkest of hours. Night for Frost represents the innermost loneliness, a loneliness that keeps him isolated from those who cry out, but not for him, and from the watchman, who may or may not be aware of his presence. The speaker has scared himself with his “desert places.” Like Emily Dickinson in poems such as “I heard a Fly buzz— when I died—” and “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” he seems to have experienced a figurative death, as if he had been to the other side and returned to tell us about it. And now it seems that it is his own cries that are heard.

The repetition of “I have” and of “acquainted with the night” echo footfalls, suggesting that the reader accompanies the speaker into the night and must also determine whether the time is wrong or right. Jay Parini writes that Frost once said the clock “was in the tower of the old Washtenaw County Courthouse” in Ann Arbor, which would clearly indicate that there is a literal clock depicted in the poem (246). But the clock, like the night, is also symbolic. There may be an actual clock observed by the speaker, but what it represents goes beyond time as we know it.

Frost is often thought of as simply a poet of country matters, but he is much more than that. Here he places himself in a city setting. The poem flows smoothly but the speaker is ill at ease, and perhaps that is why it is a setting to which Frost does not often return. John Cunningham asserts that “One does well in Frost’s universe to be acquainted with the night, to know what it is like, but values and meaning are existential in the one who carries out his errands and keeps his promises. They are not transcendental” (270).

FURTHER READING Brady, Patrick. “From New Criticism to Chaos and Emergence Theory: A Reinterpretation of a Poem by Robert Frost,” Synthesis: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1, no. 1 (Spring 1995): 41–57. Cunningham, John. “Human Presence in Frost’s Universe.” In The Cambridge Companion to Robert Frost, edited by Robert Faggen, 261–272. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Murray, Keat. “Robert Frost’s Portrait of a Modern Mind: The Archetypal Resonance of ‘Acquainted with the Night,’ ” Midwest Quarterly 41, no. 4 (June 2000): 370–384. Pack, Robert. Belief and Uncertainty in the Poetry of Robert Frost. Hanover, N.H.: Middlebury College Press, 2003. Parini, Jay. Robert Frost: A Life. New York: Holt, 1999. Timmerman, John H. Robert Frost: The Ethics of Ambiguity. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 2002.

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Acquainted with the Night Summary & Analysis by Robert Frost

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Frost first published "Acquainted with the Night" in 1927. One of Frost's most celebrated poems, "Acquainted with the Night" is an exploration of isolation, sorrow, and despair—emotions that, to the poem's speaker, feel as inescapable as the night itself. These emotions, Frost suggests, are a universal part of the human experience. The 14-line poem is a terza rima sonnet , consisting of four tercets and a final rhyming couplet. The second line of each tercet provides the rhyme sound for the first and third lines of the following stanza (aba, bcb, cdc, and so on).

• Read the full text of “Acquainted with the Night”

The Full Text of “Acquainted with the Night”

“acquainted with the night” summary, “acquainted with the night” themes.

Isolation, Sorrow, and Despair

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “acquainted with the night”.

I have been ... ... back in rain.

I have outwalked ... ... saddest city lane.

I have passed ... ... unwilling to explain.

I have stood ... ... an interrupted cry

Came over houses ... ... or say good-bye;

Lines 11-12

And further still ... ... against the sky

Lines 13-14

Proclaimed the time ... ... with the night.

“Acquainted with the Night” Symbols

• Line 1: “I have been one acquainted with the night.”
• Line 3: “I have outwalked the furthest city light.”
• Line 14: “I have been one acquainted with the night.”

• Line 11: “And further still at an unearthly height,”
• Line 12: “One luminary clock against the sky”

• Line 2: “I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.”

• Lines 11-13: “And further still at an unearthly height, / One luminary clock against the sky / Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.”

“Acquainted with the Night” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Personification.

• Line 4: “I have looked down the saddest city lane.”
• Lines 12-13: “One luminary clock against the sky / Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.”
• Line 13: “Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.”
• Line 2: “I have,” “in rain,” “in rain”
• Line 3: “I have”
• Line 4: “I have”
• Line 5: “I have”
• Line 7: “I have”
• Line 2: “rain—and”
• Line 6: “eyes, unwilling”
• Lines 5-6: “beat / And”
• Lines 7-8: “feet / When”
• Lines 8-9: “cry / Came”
• Lines 12-13: “sky / Proclaimed”

Alliteration

• Line 4: “looked,” “saddest,” “city,” “lane”
• Line 5: “watchman”
• Line 6: “unwilling”
• Line 7: “stood still,” “stopped,” “sound”
• Line 8: “cry”
• Line 9: “Came,” “street”
• Line 10: “But,” “back,” “bye”
• Line 12: “luminary,” “clock,” “sky”
• Line 13: “wrong,” “right”
• Line 1: “been one acquainted,” “with,” “night”
• Line 2: “walked”
• Line 3: “outwalked,” “furthest city light”
• Line 4: “looked,” “down,” “saddest city lane”
• Line 7: “stood still,” “stopped,” “sound,” “feet”
• Line 8: “When far away”
• Line 9: “street”
• Line 10: “But,” “call,” “back,” “bye”
• Line 12: “luminary clock,” “against,” “sky”
• Line 13: “neither wrong nor right”
• Line 2: “have,” “rain,” “back,” “rain”
• Line 4: “have,” “saddest”
• Line 5: “have passed”
• Line 7: “stopped,” “of”
• Line 11: “further,” “unearthly”
• Line 12: “sky”
• Line 13: “time,” “neither,” “right”
• Line 14: “I,” “night”
• Line 7: “feet”
• Lines 11-13: “And further still at an unearthly height, / One luminary clock against the sky / Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. ”

“Acquainted with the Night” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “acquainted”; Line 14: “acquainted”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Acquainted with the Night”

Rhyme scheme, “acquainted with the night” speaker, “acquainted with the night” setting, literary and historical context of “acquainted with the night”, more “acquainted with the night” resources, external resources.

"Acquainted with the Night" Read Aloud — Listen to author Robert Frost read his entire poem.

"Acquainted with the Night" Music Video — Listen to and watch an original music video adaptation of the poem.

"Acquainted with the Night" Musical Adaptation — Listen to a musical adaptation of the poem.

"Acquainted with the Night" Art Exhibit — Read about artist Howard Hodgkin's exhibit titled "Acquainted with the Night" and learn about Frost's influence on a contemporary artist.

Acquainted With the Night: How Whistler’s Nocturnes Changed America — Read about the connection between James Abbott McNeill Whistler's paintings and "Acquainted with the Night."

LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Frost

After Apple-Picking

Desert Places

Dust of Snow

Fire and Ice

Home Burial

Mending Wall

My November Guest

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

The Death of the Hired Man

The Oven Bird

The Road Not Taken

The Sound of the Trees

The Tuft of Flowers

The Wood-Pile

Everything you need for every book you read.

Acquainted with the Night

by Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night . I have walked out in rain —and back in rain. I have out walked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street, But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.

Meanings of Acquainted with the Night

The poem “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost presents a speaker who comes out at night and asserts familiarity with the darkness . The poem presents its main idea of the experience of the speaker with isolation, sorrow, and above all the dark forces of nature that cause despair and exasperation amid the neutrality of time.

Meanings of Stanza -1

I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.

The speaker opens the poem with a declaration that he has been familiar with the night and its attendant features, but he has not been an expert. Adding further, the speaker tells two of his experiences, walking back and forth in the rain and outwalking the city lights. The speaker wants to state that he has come far out of the limits of the city and far away from the city lights and that he has this familiarity with all of these three things. The night, the rain and the city lights are metaphors for different things that the people do not understand and take as esoteric or beyond their knowledge. The stanza adds to the main ideas of isolation and despair after knowing the nature of things.

Meanings of Stanza -2

I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

The speaker again speaks about different things that further disappoint him. Although both of the experiences are common, they point to the uncommon feature of the speaker that he observes things minutely. First, he looked down at “the saddest city lane” which could be the poorest or the dirtiest city area. Then he watches the watchman who is going with the beat of his walk, and the speaker drops his eyes but does not explain the reason behind it. In fact, he is unwilling to explain why he has done this. Both of these situations add further to the despair and isolation of the speaker.

Meanings of Stanza -3

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street,

Repeating the sound of /s/ and creating musical effects, the speaker states that he stands still for a while and hears the sounds of his feet that a far cry interrupts and startles him. He tracks its source and comes to the conclusion that it has come from far off place. In fact, this cry startled him so much that he stopped and felt that the sound of his feet has stopped. This is how he becomes able to evaluate the source of the cry that has emerged from another street over the houses. All these small incidents have further despaired the poet, adding to the main idea of the poem.

Meanings of Stanza -4

But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky

The speaker now clarifies that the call coming from some far-off streets after crossing the houses is not for him. Nobody has called him back, or nobody has told him goodbye. Both of these points have made his loneliness and isolation acute. And in the midst of this despair and isolation, a bright clock against the sky shows its presence. This is the presence of time that has made the poet jittery as time passes by in his thinking about the night and other such things. The themes of isolation and despair are quite prominent here.

Meanings of Stanza -5

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.

Connecting to the clock, these two last lines show how the clock has announced time which says that it is not the time that is right or wrong but the feelings of a person about the situation or the event. If a person thinks in positive terms, the time is right for him, and if he is negative, the time is wrong for him. The speaker concludes that time is neutral and that a person’s experience makes it right or wrong. This adds to the main idea that night, situations, and all other things depend on time to seem positive or negative, thus adding further to the main idea of isolation and despair.

Summary of Acquainted with the Night

• Popularity of “Acquainted with the Night”: This poem was written by Robert Frost, a famous American poet. It was first published in 1928 in  West-Running Brook . The poem comprises the narrator ’s experience with depression, an ordinary idea of isolation, and his nocturnal strolls. It also explains how separation cuts people off society. However, the popularity of the poem lies in the fact that it deals with the phenomenon of insurmountable depression and anxiety.
• “Acquainted with the Night” As a Representative of Loneliness: As this poem is about isolation, the lonely speaker walks the city streets at night, trying to escape from his anxiety and unexpressed fear. He also tries to find something to confront him but fails. He listens to the sounds of that city but soon acknowledges that these cries are not for him. Also, he passes by a watchman but avoids eye- contacts as if he hesitates to express himself to somebody. Finally, he gazes up at the moon and says the time has no meaning to him. He is wrapped in never-ending sorrow. What enchants the reader is the way he brings into light the natural world and human feelings.
• Major Themes in “Acquainted with the Night”: Sadness, isolation, and hesitation are some of the significant themes featured in the poem. The poet has used plenty of literary elements to fill his poem with these ideas. The gloomy speaker walks in despair and does not want to be known. He has detached himself from society. Therefore, he is going through a mental trauma that does not allow him to catch track of healthy living. It is due to his inner sorrow and intense feelings that he gets stuck in the cycle of loneliness, which seems to be lost forever.

Analysis of Literary Devices in “Acquainted with the Night”

literary devices are tools that enable the writers to present their ideas, emotions, and feelings and also help the readers understand those more profound meanings. Robert Frost also employed some literary devices in this poem to show the anxiety of the speaker. The analysis of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.

• Consonance : Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /d/ in “I have looked down the saddest city lane” and the sound of /n/ in “I have walked out in rain—and back in rain”.
• Imagery : Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things with their five senses. The poet has used visual imagery in the poem such as, “I have walked out in rain—and back in rain”, “One luminary clock against the sky” and “Came over houses from another street” to describe the weather and anxiety of the speaker.
• Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /s/ in “I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet.”
• Symbolism : Symbolism is to use symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings. Here, “luminary clock” is a symbol of time, “night” symbolizes darkness or speaker’s depression and “moon” symbolizes hope.
• Anaphora : It refers to the repetition of any word or expression in the poem. Frost has repeated the word “rain” in the second line of the poem to emphasize his point.
• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such the sounds of /a/ and /i/ in “I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.”
• Metaphor : It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects different in nature. There is an extended metaphor where the speaker’s loneliness and isolation are compared with “night”.
• Enjambment : Enjambment refers to the continuation of a sentence without the pause to the next line in a couplet or stanza such as,

“I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.”

Analysis of Poetic devices in “Acquainted with the Night”

  Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

• Sonnet : A sonnet consists of fourteen lines made up of three quatrains and one rhyming couplet.
• Terza Rima : Terza rima is a three-lined stanza borrowed from Italian poetry. There are four three-lined stanzas in the poem.
• Rhyming couplet: There are two constructive lines in a couplet, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme . This sonnet ends with a couplet, which generally reveals the central idea of the poem such as,

“Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.”

4. Rhyme Scheme : The rhyme scheme followed by the entire poem is ABA CDC DAD AA.

5. Iambic pentameter : It is a type of meter consisting of five iambs . This poem comprises iambic pentameter such as, “I  have  been  one  ac quaint ed  with  the  night.”

6. Repetition: There is a repetition of the line “I have been one acquainted with the night” which has created a musical quality in the poem.

7. Refrain : The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poems are called refrain. The line, “I have been one acquainted with the night” is repeated with the same words. Hence, it has become a refrain as it has been repeated in first and the last stanzas.

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below can be used when expressing any personal experience of walking late at night or loneliness. These lines could also be used

“I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. I have out walked the furthest city light.”

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Robert Frost, Acquainted with the night analysis

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Acquainted with the Night

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The Experience of Loneliness

The dominance of the first-person singular pronoun defines the poem’s thematic examination of the experience of loneliness. Whatever the speaker’s emotional strength (or weakness), the speaker moves about the city streets very much alone. The presence of the passing cop and even the muffled cry from some nearby street cannot lessen the feeling of alienation. In fact, the speaker declines even to make eye contact with the “watchman” (Line 5) and quickly assures himself that the “interrupted cry” (Line 8) is not directed to him.

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Acquainted with the Night

By Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain — and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.  I have been one acquainted with the night.

Robert Frost, "Acquainted with the Night" from The Poetry of Robert Frost , edited by Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1964, 1970 by Leslie Frost Ballantine. Copyright 1936, 1942 © 1956 by Robert Frost. Copyright 1923, 1928, © 1969 by Henry Holt and Co. Reprinted with the permission of Henry Holt & Company, LLC.

Source: Twentieth-Century American Poetry (2004)

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Acquainted With the Night Quotes

By christopher dewdney.

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“I have been one acquainted with the night I have walked out in rain— and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.” Robert Frost, epigraph

These lines are from the Robert Frost poem that gives this book its name, which is entitled "Acquainted With the Night." They convey a sense of contemplation and serenity in dwelling upon the night, revealing the beauty latent in what could be seen as merely the absence of light. This quiet, meditative philosophy pervades Dewdney's prose, as well as the structure of the book as a whole. This poem, used as the book's epigraph, could be seen as its mission statement: it intends to allow this statement to be applicable to its readers.

“Night is a collective planetary spectacle, it is a mysterious, magical realm, and it is a frontier that we are still exploring.” Chapter 1: First Night

This sentence is the final one of the first chapter, "First Night." It is essentially the thesis statement of this essay collection; it conveys the depths of night's mysterious beauty while admitting that these depths have not yet been fully probed. This book will attempt to explain the mysteries of the night while transferring the sense of wonder that has so possessed the author. This book will acquaint its reader with the night in the best possible way.

“The darkness of finite space causes the darkness of night; they are one and the same.” Chapter 2: The Garden of the Hespertides (Sunset, 6 PM)

This quote concludes the final mini-essay of Chapter 2, which is entitled "Olbers' Paradox: Why Night is Dark." The paradox Olbers posed is this: if there are an enormous number of stars in the universe, and atmospheric dust can only obscure so much light, why is night dark instead of blazing with the light from countless stars? Edgar Allan Poe was actually right in his surmise, confirmed by Edwin Hubble years later, that it's because the light from these distant stars has not yet reached the Earth, proving that the universe had a beginning (a theory Hubble proved in greater detail later). The darkness of Earth's night is therefore due to the darkness of the space between this planet and the distant stars.

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Acquainted With the Night Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Acquainted With the Night is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

what is the significance of family connections within the memoir? You can focus on how Elie"s relationship with his father changes throughout tge novel

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Aquainted with the Night

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Study Guide for Acquainted With the Night

Acquainted With the Night study guide contains a biography of Christopher Dewdney, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of Acquainted With the Night.

• About Acquainted With the Night
• Acquainted With the Night Summary
• Character List

Essays for Acquainted With the Night

Acquainted With the Night essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Acquainted With the Night by Christopher Dewdney.

• The Light of Darkness

Wikipedia Entries for Acquainted With the Night

• Introduction
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Robert Frost Poetry

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Acquainted with the night- Robert Frost Analysis

Frost elected to set this poem during the night which serves as a metaphor for his depression, shame and guilt. The night conceals his true Identity to symbolism he does not belong within society. This Is exemplified In the third stanza “l have outlawed the furthest city light. ” In the line It Is apparent that the city light Is symbolic for hope, which the persona has evidently lost through his depression. In addition, the persona’s dark mentality keeps him segregated from a society where he does not belong. The poem depicts belonging as an essential aspect for every Individual, however, societal acceptance Is vital.

This Is evident In the third stanza “far away an Interrupted cry. ” The persona’s solitude Is temporarily hindered as he believed the cry was Intended for him. However, the climax Instantaneously halts In the fourth stanza when the persona realizes the sad truth that the call was not proposed for him. This Is highlighted In the line “but not to call me back or say good-bye”, which further enhances his depression, desolation and aloneness. The physical distance Is metaphoric for the persona’s emotional distance where even the that he does not belong within contemporary society.

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B) How has the composer relayed their ideas about Belonging to the responder? Throughout the poem Acquainted with the night, there are several poetic techniques used to convey the notion of belonging to the responder. Within the poem, it is evident that belonging is concerned with identity, a significant aspect that the persona has not discovered. The first technique utilizes in the poem to portray his lack of belonging within society is past perfect tense. This is evident in the first stanza “l have been… ‘ have walked… ‘ have outlawed… L have looked down… ‘ have passed.

The repetition of the past perfect tense used in the line illustrates that he has experienced the loneliness of the night on several occasions. This emphasizes the persona’s singularity, alienation and displacement from society. In addition, the use of first person narration emphasizes the persona’s complete isolation and gives the audience an insight into the lack of belonging to which he is subjected. It can be affirmed that every human essentially needs to belong to people, places or society. Nevertheless, in the poem it is evident that the persona does not belong to society or he citizens within it.

The structure of the poem is cyclical which emphasizes the persona’s cynical mental state. This is evident through the use of repetition of the lines “l have been one acquainted with the night. ” This conveys the darkness of night as a symbolic representation for the persona’s cycle of depression. The poem’s protagonist is entrapped in a deep loop of emotion, which further implies that he does not belong within the modern world. Furthermore, the poem conveys strong connotations with the author, Robert Frost and to a certain extent; it is a reflection of is personal experiences.

The poem’s gloomy, miserable and morose tones have been associated with the poet’s depression in life due to the tragic death of his wife. Presented in your prescribed text. Acquainted with the night depicts belonging as an essential aspect for every individual, however, societal acceptance is vital. This notion supports the concept of belonging within the prescribed text Migrant Hostel . Peter Jerkiness’s poem Migrant hostel conveys that when a group of “new comers” live in a new country, their sense of belonging is hindered as they struggle to find a lace where they feel socially accepted.

The migrant’s path to belonging is restricted as the Australian society controls their destiny. This is evident in the fourth stanza “A barrier at the main gate sealed off the highway. ” The barrier is symbolic of an obstacle that segregates the migrants from the real world, which ultimately restricts them from belonging. Correspondingly in Acquainted with the night, the persona’s dark mental state restricts him from making a connection with civilization. The theme of the poem is portrayed during the night to conceal the persona’s true identity.

This symbolizes that he is not accepted by humanity which is exemplified in the line “l have outlawed the furthest city light. ” The city light is symbolic for hope, which the persona has evidently lost through his depression. This reinforces the notion that the persona’s dark mental state restricts him for belonging within society. Migrant Hostel explores the notion that belonging can emerge from the connections made with people. However, this concept is directly challenged within the poem Acquainted with the night as the persona views seclusion as a catalyst for belonging.

The migrants surpassed their lack of belonging by associating themselves with other immigrants of the ethnicity. This is evident in the second stanza “Nationalities sought each other out instinctively like a homing pigeon. ” The metonymy utilizes in the line reinforces that in the absence of belonging, the migrants formed groups with compatriots of the same nationality to reminisce their cultural heritage. In addition, the use of simile emphasizes their nature desire for personal allegiance in the deficiency of belonging.

Conversely, in Acquainted with the night the persona natures through the dark city at night without any desire to belong with other people. The night is metaphoric for the persona’s depression in which he feels ashamed. This is highlighted in the second stanza “l have passed by the watchman on his beat and dropped my eyes… Unwilling to explain. ” The persona evidently has the chance to interact with people; however, he deliberately drops his eyes to overlook the presence of the watchman. The use of first person narration conjures the thought that the persona’s inability to belong keeps him segregated from society.

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An American poet Robert Frost is famous for exploring human feelings and the world of nature. The author expresses the hesitations and emotions of the poem characters through vivid images and metaphors. One of the best examples of his literary techniques is 'Acquainted with the Night' – a real literature jewel, describing the author's experience of depression.

If you are tasked to craft the 'Acquainted with the Night' analysis, be prepared that it requires both time and effort. You need to read the poem, reflect on it, and then try to structure your thoughts in a logical manner. A good paper sample will not only serve as a source of inspiration but also as a guide on how to produce content to impress your professor. Check out the examples of an essay on Acquainted with the Night below to learn how to present a clear abstract, build the sound structure, and write a powerful text.

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