Acquainted With The Night Figurative Language Essay

When people think about the poem “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost, they might think about how beautifully written it is; however, many people will not think about how depressing the poem actually is. Robert Frost suffered from depression throughout his lifetime. When reading “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost wants his reader to understand the feelings that run through his head every day. Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses imagery, symbols, and other forms of figurative language to convey his depressing message to his readers. Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses descriptive words to help the reader form a picture in their mind. The reader gets a great image in their mind when Frost states, “I have walked out in rain—and back in

The most used form of figurative language in “Acquainted with the Night” is a metaphor. After reading through “Acquainted with the Night,” it becomes apparent to the reader that the entire poem is an extended metaphor for depression. When people think of the word “depression,” the first word that might come to mind is darkness. Individuals who suffer with depression know that it can be a very dark time in their life. Throughout “Acquainted with the Night,” Frost uses darkness as a metaphor for depression since many people that suffer from depression believe that it can be one of the darkest moments of their life. Another form of figurative language that Frost uses in “Acquainted with the Night” is personification. One instance of personification in the poem is when the moon is talking to the speaker. When the speaker looked up at the moon, the moon “Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.” (line 13). The speaker was trying to see what time it was, but it is extremely hard to guess a time by just looking at the moon. The moon is then telling the speaker that his guess is not wrong, but it is also not