Acquainted with the Night Analysis - Literary devices and Poetic devices

Acquainted with the Night

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 acquainted 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.”