Robert Frost Analysis

acquainted with the night

When looking at Robert Frost I have always been conflicted. Normally, I gravitate towards free verse and risky poets, but with Frost I have always found that he has made his poems interesting within the scheme of rhyme, traditional structure, etc. I find it interesting that within the context of these traditional constraints he usually avoids cliche or melodramatic lines and instead uses more common terminology and imagery to convey his ideas. At the same time they are employed to usually create a strong message or feel. This is true in "Acquainted with the Night".
In this poem I actually initially saw comparisons with the work of Bob Dylan (which I have previously covered). The poem follows a traveler, making his way through the night, in a world that seems less than welcoming. It seems almost that the wanderer in this poem is the boy in Dylan's "Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" that has gone back out to change the world-and failed. "I have walked out in rain-and back out in rain," (Line 2). I see the rain as being a fairly universal symbol of misfortune and bad times, and in that way seems to be the Dylan traveler returning home again after failing (as if the hard rain had overcome him). The repetition of "I" in the first five lines gives off a sense of weariness, which the sixth line concludes in context, "And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain". In such simple ways Frost has conveyed an intense feeling of weariness and hopelessness; the speaker too distraught to bother to explain. The silence of the street except for his footsteps signifies loneliness, or that he seems to know something that makes him no longer able to relate with others. Then, the call that is neither "to call me back or say good-bye" furthers this point. The "One luminary clock against the sky," (Line 12) appeared to me to be the moon, and the fact that it read the time as neither right or wrong furthers this feeling of indifference, hopelessness, loss of purpose, etc. The idea of being "acquainted with the night" itself signifies loneliness as most people are active during the daytime. For me the rhyming in this poem (although Frost almost always did), the common images/terminology, and the ambiguous setting, time period, location, etc. made this piece archaic and pertaining to folklore. Even the simple rhymes bespoke the every man. This was interesting because it reminded me of how Dylan used similar tactics to accomplish a related feel in his piece. This was not elitist, it was the poetry of the average man.
Frost has accomplished conveying his feel of failure, loss, etc. by depicting images of a lonely traveler of the night, a common man alienated from everyone, indifferent, and in a way that could be applicable to any time or place.