"Acquainted With the Night" Sample Essays

Matthew Mena

            The poem “Acquainted with the Night,” by Robert Frost is about a person who is familiar with the night. Frost uses literary elements to show the reader what kind of personality the character in the poem has and to help the reader picture what the night is like where this poem takes place. The theme of this poem is showing how the character is lonely at night and how he notices characteristics of the night.

            The character in the poem knows what the night is like. He knows what happens at night, and the night some times makes him sad.

                        I have looked down the saddest city lane.

                        I have passed by the watching on his beat

                        And dropped my eyes, unwillingly to explain

                                                                                          (4-6)

It isn’t just the night that makes him sad, it is also the fact that he is lonely throughout the night. “I have been one acquainted with night” (14). Frost uses the word “I” seven times in this poem, which shows that there are no other people with him and also shows his loneliness. By him being lonely, he has learned about the night and treats it like company.

            The literary elements used in this poem are parallelism and repetition. Robert Frost uses parallelism to let the reader know what the character does at night.

                        I have been one acquainted with the night

                        I have walked out in rain—back in rain

                        I have out walked the furthest city light

                                                                               (1-3)

Frost uses repetition in the poem to make a point to the reader. He repeats the first and last lines to show that the character knows the night very well. “I have been one acquainted with night” (1&4).

            Through the use of parallelism and repetition used in “Acquainted with the Night,” Robert Frost allows the reader to understand the person in the poem. Frost was able to show how being lonely can lead to somebody treating something non-human as company. This poem was written to shape readers about somebody who was lonely.