Loneliness In Robert Frost's 'Acquainted With The Night'

Elizabeth Gilbert states, “Depression on my left, and loneliness on my right. They don’t need to show me their badges. I know these guys very well.” Similarly, in Robert Frost’s poem “Acquainted with the Night,” he uses effective figurative language such as repetition, metaphor, and personification to underscore the constant loneliness and depressed feelings of the speaker. One way the constant loneliness and depressed feelings of the speaker is conveyed through repetition. This is evident when the speaker claims that he has been acquainted with the night: “I have been acquainted with the night” (1 and 14). Here, the poet provides the speaker’s personal experience of being isolated and depression. “Acquainted with the Night,” provides a part of the speaker’s life where he or she was lonely and in a dark place. It provides a connection between the reader and the speaker and provides a greater understanding of the speaker’s life, as well as his or her hardships. Also, the difficulties of expressing his or her own personal feelings. Furthermore, it also emphasizes how the speaker has become familiar …show more content…
This is evident when the speaker compares the moon: “A luminary clock against the sky.” Here, the poet uses metaphor to compare the moon as a “luminary clock against the sky.” This demonstrates that the speaker does not have any connection to the real time, as normally, how a normal person would. Instead, the speaker looks to the moon for the time. However, the time is non-existent because it “proclaimed the time was neither nor right.” This metaphor propose the depression in the speaker. Furthermore, the speaker is looking at the sky and the moon for time suggests that there is a lost connection between him and her and to the world, implying that the speaker is isolated. Thus, underscores the theme of loneliness and