Acquainted with the Night - 1
Acquainted with the Night
The poem “Acquainted with the Night” was written by Robert Frost and was published in 1928. Robert Frost 's poetry is able to paint images in our mind with his diction, using symbolisms that can be interpreted many different ways. We get glimpses of every day scenes featuring every day people. We also get a picture of the very troubled and depressed Frost himself. When reading Frost 's poetry, it is recommended to consider the use of the melancholy tone and obsession with death, loneliness and sorrow. Robert Frost had many losses in his personal life and business. Some might not know this but Frost suffered from Tuberculosis. This disease not only affects your ability to breath, lowers your immune system, and steals your energy; it also causes sleeplessness, nervousness, and a deep sense of melancholy.
Frost uses the terza rima in iambic pentameter that consists of the first stanza being ABA, the second with BCB, the third CDC, and the last two line are in the DD rhyme scheme. As I read “Acquainted with the Night” I realized that for the first stanza each three lines start with the words “I have,” the second stanza then only uses the first two lines with “I have,” the third drops another and uses one and then the fourth stanza completely got rid of it. This could be symbolic to the speaker as he’s losing a little part of himself as he goes along.
Frost starts off his poem with “I have become one acquainted with the night” (Frost line 1). The first line already has so much symbolic meaning towards it. He is being acquainted with darkness, fear and the most important loneliness. As you know from previous reading Frost’s Tuberculosis kept him up so this poem could be pertaining to his life. The speaker of the poem, not being able to sleep, chose to go on a walk as a way of escaping his troubles. The second line states, “I have walked out in the rain—and back in rain” (Frost 2). Just as the exterior weather has not changed the interior
The poem “Acquainted with the Night” was written by Robert Frost and was published in 1928. Robert Frost 's poetry is able to paint images in our mind with his diction, using symbolisms that can be interpreted many different ways. We get glimpses of every day scenes featuring every day people. We also get a picture of the very troubled and depressed Frost himself. When reading Frost 's poetry, it is recommended to consider the use of the melancholy tone and obsession with death, loneliness and sorrow. Robert Frost had many losses in his personal life and business. Some might not know this but Frost suffered from Tuberculosis. This disease not only affects your ability to breath, lowers your immune system, and steals your energy; it also causes sleeplessness, nervousness, and a deep sense of melancholy.
Frost uses the terza rima in iambic pentameter that consists of the first stanza being ABA, the second with BCB, the third CDC, and the last two line are in the DD rhyme scheme. As I read “Acquainted with the Night” I realized that for the first stanza each three lines start with the words “I have,” the second stanza then only uses the first two lines with “I have,” the third drops another and uses one and then the fourth stanza completely got rid of it. This could be symbolic to the speaker as he’s losing a little part of himself as he goes along.
Frost starts off his poem with “I have become one acquainted with the night” (Frost line 1). The first line already has so much symbolic meaning towards it. He is being acquainted with darkness, fear and the most important loneliness. As you know from previous reading Frost’s Tuberculosis kept him up so this poem could be pertaining to his life. The speaker of the poem, not being able to sleep, chose to go on a walk as a way of escaping his troubles. The second line states, “I have walked out in the rain—and back in rain” (Frost 2). Just as the exterior weather has not changed the interior
Cited: Mason, David, and John Frederick Nims, eds. Western Wind An Introduction to Poetry. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992. Print.