Robert Frost's Acquainted With The Night

In Robert Frost’s Acquainted with the Night the speaker describes a man faced with depression, evoking a dark undertone within the poem.
Some readers may argue that the poem describes a man of immorality or intent of doing ill will, however I think back to the quote of Henry Longfellow the first poet who ever translated The Divine Comedy by Danté. The same poem Frost imitated Acquainted with the Night after in which Longfellow states, “Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”. If you weren’t born with an affinity for darkness it may seem daunting to infer through the irregular sonnet of Frost the speaker’s feelings of depression.
Frost’s sonnet was described earlier
as being styled after The Divine Comedy, however Frost uses a non- traditional twist through the inclusion of a rhyme scheme that does not strictly follow the typical Shakespearean rhythm of ab ab cd cd ef ef gg or abba abba rhyme scheme. This poetic flourish was seldomly done by poets at the time and contributed to the elevation of the importance of the poem’s composition during the early 1900’s. In addition Frost’s employment of terza rima styled lines adds more leeway to the types of rhymes Frost can use allowing frost to use various rhyme schemes to give the sonnet a more natural motion. Recurrent in Acquainted with the Night are also loose internal and interlocking rhyme the poet states, “ 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.” (2- 4) These lines are used to transition the audience from one feeling or action to another. Frost is able to execute this literary ploy with the consonance from the diction incorporated, having the words within the lines above resembling the ending of the prior lines ending word for example passed and saddest. Furthermore Frost’s use of interlocking rhyme is used to conclude a line to create a rhythm and drive the poem with only the stressing of one syllable to maintain trochee meter. The placement of end rhyme in the sonnet gives the poem a melodic flow resulting in cleaner transitions. Moreover another element Frost uses in Acquainted with the Night is anaphora in lines one through five, seven and fourteen to explain the actions of the speaker and continue the rhyme scheme created with trochee meter, terza rima, and end rhyme. A natural momentum is made through the repetition of sounds or words this momentum drives Frost’s lines forward seamlessly to carry the message of depression to the audience without becoming lost by the line changes. In poetry line breaks can signify the start of a new idea, as a result the audience is able to understand when the ideas of Frost shift from one stanza to the next or when they are referring back to the same
subject. By the same token with the insertion of setting, tone, and symbolism in Frost’s sonnet Acquainted with the Night envelopes the theme of darkness accompanied by the singular figure of a luminary night against the sky.
The setting of the poem is not very bright or illuminating the speaker does not use words like ‘daylight’ or ‘sunny’ but words such as ‘night’ and ‘rain’. This gives the audience an understanding of how the background of the poem portrays a dark feel to illustrate the depression of the poet. Frost’s use of integral setting aides in the questioning of whether the light against the sky is a clock or the moon which grants the poem more circumstance for the audience to interpret. The city is used not only to give a description of the location of the speaker ,but also to hint at what we know now to be the depression rate that compliments city dwelling. The gloom from the industries of the city usually results in depressive weather for the residents of these cities. The publication of Acquainted with the Night was a year away from The Great Depression and it is possible the influence of The Great Depression may have struck the industrialized areas first causing homelessness, poverty, and hunger. The poet seems to be wandering through the night of the city through the saddest city lanes, passed the watchmen on his beat, and away from a far away cry on another street. This description illustrates a sad city lane compared to the upbeat lane it may have been before the
depression, now void of happiness much like the speaker. When the poet then goes on to describe the police officer on the beat it results with the speaker’s eyes dropping unwilling to explain, during The Great Depression crime decreased in many cities which is most likely what the speaker is unable to explain. The speaker later describes a cry from a street over, not to call the speaker back or say good- bye, but possibly from hunger pains due to a depressive economy’s lack of food. The poem then goes onto state that at an unearthly height is one luminary clock against the sky. For Frost the light was a double entendre either presumed to be the moon or a clock, however I think the latter because the speaker states the time was neither wrong nor right. Yet you could argue it is a clock because the setting in which the poem is set. The moon was the original indicator of time and could just as easily fit the description the clock does, yet the clock is the more literally apparent explanation derived from the city’s atmosphere. Not only does the setting convey the depression of the poet but the tone as well. The tone of the Sonnet is thoughtful and grim the speaker reflecting back on his actions throughout the night to only understand the loneliness of it all. The speaker is also able to recognize really how dark the night seems to be with only a singular light much like the singularity of the poets travel throughout many nights. The poet says “ / I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. /” ,which reveals after assuming the dark undertone while thinking metaphorically the speaker has came into and departed from depression only to return to it by themself. This sets the grim mood for the remainder of the poem with the speaker talking of walking down the saddest city lanes. To only be able to make sense of a street as being sad would mean you would be taking those characteristics from yourself. Then later for the speaker to drop their eyes as if they did not want to talk to the watchman to maintain that isolated depressive state.