Acquainted with the Night    (by Robert Frost)




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 an unearthly height,

One luminary clock against the sky


Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. 

I have been one acquainted with the night.



Analysis

“Acquainted With the Night” by Robert Frost is a contemplation on alienation and isolation, centering on ‘one man’ lonely nighttime wanderings and suggesting that his individual experiences represent the ‘human condition.’ This poem represents the speaker’s individual condition as all of us in our “lonely human state.”