Poetry Analysis: Acquainted with the Night and Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Acquainted with the Night
In the poem「Acquainted with the Night」, Robert Frost suggests the example of human who has encountered, admitted, then accepted the troubles of life, through the characterization of the speaker, changes of the spatial setting, and the use of rhyme scheme and framing.
The speaker’s behaviours while he’s walking through the poem show the speaker’s impassive character, and they also show the speaker is accustomed to s isolation, loneliness, and depression. When he comes across the watchman in the second stanza, who is the only person the speaker meets in person, the speaker avoids the watchman and refuses to communicate and show his emotion. When the speaker hears a cry from a distance, he knows that person isn’t calling him. The lack of communication in the direct and indirect encounters with other people, and disconnected relationship with the elements the speaker encounters characterizes the speaker as a person who’s accustomed to his social loneliness, isolation and depression. Also, the speaker’s depression and loneliness are expressed by imagery of rainy night at a city. In the first stanza, “the night” (1) and “rain” (2) can be interpreted as death and depression respectively, and “the furthest city light” (3) can be interpreted as human society. The speaker keeps walking away from the “city light” (3) throughout the poem, which can be interpreted as the speaker’s will to approach loneliness and isolation, as well as his persistence. Present perfect tense is often used throughout the poem, which, according to Oxford Dictionary, is used to express “a completed action or a state or habitual action which began in the past”. Use of present perfect tense gives the feeling that the speaker has repeatedly encountered deep depression, suicidal thoughts and social loneliness, and he is now used to them.
Changes in the spatial setting show the changes of the speaker’s emotions, from deep depression to a gleam of hope. As the speaker
In the poem「Acquainted with the Night」, Robert Frost suggests the example of human who has encountered, admitted, then accepted the troubles of life, through the characterization of the speaker, changes of the spatial setting, and the use of rhyme scheme and framing.
The speaker’s behaviours while he’s walking through the poem show the speaker’s impassive character, and they also show the speaker is accustomed to s isolation, loneliness, and depression. When he comes across the watchman in the second stanza, who is the only person the speaker meets in person, the speaker avoids the watchman and refuses to communicate and show his emotion. When the speaker hears a cry from a distance, he knows that person isn’t calling him. The lack of communication in the direct and indirect encounters with other people, and disconnected relationship with the elements the speaker encounters characterizes the speaker as a person who’s accustomed to his social loneliness, isolation and depression. Also, the speaker’s depression and loneliness are expressed by imagery of rainy night at a city. In the first stanza, “the night” (1) and “rain” (2) can be interpreted as death and depression respectively, and “the furthest city light” (3) can be interpreted as human society. The speaker keeps walking away from the “city light” (3) throughout the poem, which can be interpreted as the speaker’s will to approach loneliness and isolation, as well as his persistence. Present perfect tense is often used throughout the poem, which, according to Oxford Dictionary, is used to express “a completed action or a state or habitual action which began in the past”. Use of present perfect tense gives the feeling that the speaker has repeatedly encountered deep depression, suicidal thoughts and social loneliness, and he is now used to them.
Changes in the spatial setting show the changes of the speaker’s emotions, from deep depression to a gleam of hope. As the speaker