Aquainted with the night

Rhyme Scheme, Symbolism and Tone in Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night"

Robert Frost is known as the most famous twentieth-century, New England poet. The sonnet "Acquainted with the Night" has drawn more commentary and analysis than any other poems. The extraordinary rhythmical arrangement and word choice of the sonnet sets the reader in an inescapable mood. The symbolism comprised is also an essential element in "Acquainted with the Night". The charm of this poem largely depends on the slight heightening of tone, which portrays the essence of man's existence in his lonely human state. Collectively the rhyme scheme, symbolism and tone of the speaker make up the poetic form.

The poem's pattern is written in a uniquely unusual and exceptional sonnet form. 'Acquainted with the Night' "adopts the even mo

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It represents the "basic isolation of man from other men and from nature…Perhaps the most significant aspect of the poem is that the fact of isolation, or aloneness, is never linked with complaint" (qtd. According to Robert Pack the "I" is "locked into an obsessive 'I' of self-consciousness" (Pack 16). "The present perfect tense of 'I have', strongly implies that the persona continues, ever after the poem, to engage in this process of reflecting upon himself and his spiritual potential. re rigid form" of the Italian triple terza rima rhyme form (Isaacs 105, Maxson 72). Daylight - ordinary daytime thoughts and life itself - seems remote and unavailable in the poem. 'Acquainted with the Night' is described as "drenched in internal and external darkness" (Marcus 125). The use of "night" is "ultimately symbolic" according to Doyle.

The images suggest that whatever night means, it is somehow associated with insomnia, loneliness, isolation, coldness, darkness, death, fear and a sense of alienation from humanity and even time.

The images in "Acquainted with the Night" lead to the poem's symbolic meaning.

Approximate Word count = 555
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

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