Alliteration in Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night"

Great Essays
A poem “Acquainted with the Night” is a lyric, which is showed by seven sentences. The author uses the traditional form of the sonnet that has 14 lines with a strict standard. The poem is divided into five stanzas. The first four verses are each three lines, but the final stanza only contains two to create a logical layout, which is easy to reach the readers. Since Frost doesn’t use enjambment, instead he employs the scheme of anaphora to show his situation. In the poem, he repeats “I have” at the beginning of seven of the lines (l. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 14) to strongly denote his lonely position. By using a combination of the present perfect tenses in every sentence, which shows that is finished at the time the author writing, the author puts …show more content…
In 14 lines, there are total four couplets; with a “terza rima” rhyme scheme, according to a complicated mold: aba bcb cdc dad aa. This is an intricate rhyme scheme that is very hard to apply the form. Also, the rhymes in this poem swing back to toward, from stanza to stanza. The sound devices used include alliteration and consonance. The most featured examples of alliteration are: "stood still and stopped the sound of feet," (l. 7) "saddest city,"(l. 4) which repeat sound “s,” “walked” (l. 2) “watchman,” (l. 5) “When,” (l. 8) repeat sound “w,” and “light,” (l. 3) “looked,” “lane,” (l. 4) that repeat sound “l”. The oft-repeated soft alliteration like the "l," "s," and "w" sounds give the poem a calm tone relevant with the quiet, rainy evening the poet describes. The most obvious example of consonance is the liberal use of the "t" sounds throughout the poem, including: city, light, looked, saddest, passed, beat, dropped, still, stopped, feet, interrupted, street, still, height, against, time, right, which make the atmosphere …show more content…
The phrase “acquainted with the night” is an unfamiliar one in that an acquaintance is considered as someone or something that is known only superficially. However, in this poem, the tone is one of the quiet acceptance of the night. If it’s not an intimate friend, at least it’s a natural aspect of his life. Hence it appears that the night symbolizes more than just isolation or loneliness. In fact, it represents the poet’s inner self as well; a person that he is acquainted but does not know well. Moreover, the poet’s journey into the night can be seen as ongoing and eternal, which can help him to feel more peaceful, and to explore more knowledge. If the poet does not know himself, then his acquaintance with society as indicated by the city light which is even softer. He listens to the sounds of the city, but he is not a part of it. He sees the city watchman, but he avoids any contact with him. He wants to enjoy the loneliness while he is acquainted with the night. In the poem, his surroundings are all far away. But after all, he should feel strong, brave, and face with the loneliness, because God will always give his hand out to help the real people (English Standard Version, Isaiah

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