Acquainted With The Night (Powerful Poetry)

Robert Frost’s "Acquainted with the Night" is a deeply introspective and melancholic poem. The message behind it revolves around isolation, loneliness, and a kind of resigned acceptance of sorrow. The poem’s speaker is someone who walks the city streets at night, alone, distanced from others and hope. The recurring phrase “I have been one acquainted with the night” reinforces a sense of emotional detachment and familiarity with darkness, both literal and metaphorical.

Transcript

I have been one acquainted with the night.

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 and dropped my eyes,

Unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet,

When far away an interrupted cry came over houses from another street.

But not to call me back or say good-bye,

And further still at my unearthly height,

O luminary clock against the sky,

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.