Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost

First published: 1928, in West-Running Brook

Type of poem: Sonnet

The Poem

Robert Frost’s “Acquainted with the Night” is a sonnet written in terza rima, a rhyme scheme that generally suggests a continual progression. The poem examines the poet’s relationship with himself and with society. Consisting of seven complete sentences, each beginning with the words “I have,” the poem relates Frost’s journey from the “furthest city light” into the dark night.

The first stanza introduces the poet’s relationship with the night as an acquaintance. The idea that the poet is “one acquainted with the night” acts as the glue holding the poem together. Indeed, the first and last lines are identical, emphasizing the poet’s assertion that he is acquainted with the night, and between these lines Frost clarifies the nature of the relationship. The first stanza also implies that his acquaintance with the night is a journey. He has both “walked out in rain—and back in rain” and has “outwalked the furthest city light.” His journey into the night and into the rain is also, for the poet, a journey to self-knowledge.

In the second stanza, the poet looks out at society—“down the saddest city lane”—as he leaves the confines of the city and, thus, society. Because he covets the time alone that he will have outside the city, he passes “the watchman on his beat,” but he makes no eye contact with the watchman, nor does he desire any contact with him. The need for solitude is so strong that he wants nothing to detain him. In effect, he is ignoring society in his quest for the night, for solitude.

It becomes clear in the third and fourth stanzas that the poet feels that just as he ignores society, so society ignores him. In line seven, he says that he had “stood still and stopped the sound of feet,” in effect pausing on his journey and becoming a silent observer of the sounds and activities of the city. In his silence he remains outside society, neither taking part in nor being noticed by the world around him.

He then hears “an interrupted cry…from another street” but has no knowledge of why the cry is sounded or what it means. By becoming a silent observer on the outskirts of the city, he is no longer a part of the rhythms of city life, nor are they a part of him. Life continues, and he knows that the cry is not intended to “call [him] back or say good-by.” He willingly leaves society behind in order to seek solitude. Then, in the distance, he sees “at an unearthly height/ One luminary clock against the sky.” It is the “luminary clock” that provides the only light on the poet’s trip out of the city since he passed beyond the city light at the beginning of his journey.

In the final couplet, the poet states that the clock “proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.” The clock, which may be a symbol of the moon or of time itself, gives a sense of the ambiguity of time in the poet’s existence—that it is neither wrong nor right. Nevertheless, in the final line of the poem, the poet confidently restates his original assertion—“I have been one acquainted with the night.” Although he feels isolated to some extent from both himself and from society, and though he feels a sense of uncertainty about time and life, he at least retains some sense of who he is: someone who is still on a journey to know himself better.

Forms and Devices

Frost uses symbolism and imagery to set a mood of not just isolation and loneliness but also quiet and solitude. Themes such as rain, night, unearthly height, and sad city lanes evoke these feelings of both isolation and quietness. Yet, as Frost represents these images, they also seem to promote a feeling of reflection in his escape from the city to the quiet darkness of the surrounding countryside.

The “luminary clock” is symbolic of time, either natural or as constructed by humanity. This clock, which the poet sees at “an unearthly height,” can be interpreted as either the moon or a clock in a tower situated high above the city. Yet whether the clock is natural or human-made, it has much to say to the poet as he observes it from the dark outskirts of town. When he says that the clock “proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right,” he is given pause to consider his life and all its questions and possibilities. Characterizing the time as not right but also not wrong suggests a certain relativity or ambiguity concerning time and life.

Frost also uses the journey motif in this poem. When he speaks of going into the rain and coming back again, he suggests that he is on a journey, one that is not yet complete. In this poem, the night represents his destination—the poet’s own inner life, possibly self-knowledge. The poet, then, feels at least partially alienated from himself in much the same way that the night promotes a feeling of alienation from other people.

Because Frost characterizes the night—his own inner life—as something he does not fully know, something he is only acquainted with, the reader knows that the journey is still incomplete; full self-knowledge has not yet been achieved. The poet’s journey takes him beyond the “city light” or society itself. Because he presents himself as a silent observer of the sounds and activities of the city, it is also evident that the poet feels alienated from society as well as from himself. The poet does not seem to be looking for a better understanding of society, though, since he refuses to make eye contact with the city watchman. He is more concerned with going out into the night, to learn more about himself. Yet, he does not seem to be in a hurry; the luminary clock itself tells him that the time for self-knowledge is “neither wrong nor right.” The journey in this poem ends as it begins, with the poet’s statement that he “is one acquainted with the night.” The poet seems content to continue the journey, perhaps sensing that it is a journey that will continue throughout his life.

Another device that Frost uses in this poem is a conversational tone. The sonnet is simple and direct, giving the reader a sense of identification with the poet. Frost speaks directly to the reader, relating his thoughts and feelings in straightforward, easily understood diction. Only in his use of symbols and images does he attach unusual meanings and associations to the words he chooses to convey his ideas.

Bibliography

Bloom, Harold, ed. Robert Frost. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003.

Burnshaw, Stanley. Robert Frost Himself. New York: George Braziller, 1986.

Faggen, Robert. Robert Frost and the Challenge of Darwin. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997.

Galbraith, Astrid. New England as Poetic Landscape: Henry David Thoreau and Robert Frost. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.

Gerber, Philip L. Robert Frost. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1982.

Lathem, Edward Connery. Robert Frost: A Biography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981.

Meyers, Jeffrey. Robert Frost: A Biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Poirier, Richard. Robert Frost: The Work of Knowing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.

Potter, James L. The Robert Frost Handbook. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1980.

Pritchard, William H. Frost: A Literary Life Reconsidered. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Thompson, Lawrance Roger, and R. H. Winnick. Robert Frost: A Biography. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982.