Diction In Acquainted With The Night

In literary works, night often is depicted in a negative manner, symbolizing loneliness, depression, fear, or death. However, night is not always negative. When night can bring monsters from fantasy dreams, it can also bring the moon and stars. The night is a time for being alone. Similarly, Robert Frost uses depressive diction, a lack of human interaction, and the use of the present perfect tense in “Acquainted with the Night” to contribute to the sense of regret and isolation the poem gives.

Diction can define a poem’s attitude, and Frost’s use of night-related diction and depressive diction defines the poem significantly. In lines 11-12, Frost writes, “And further still at an unearthly height, / One luminary clock against the sky”. The word luminary, coming from the latin word lumen (light), means “ a body that gives off light, such as the sun or the moon”. One can safely assume that the moon is being referenced in this case, as the poem takes place in the night. The moon could both symbolize a figurative

The present perfect tense, which uses the present tense of “to have” and the past tense of the main verb, can be used to indicate both an action that has been completed in the past or an action that continues to the present. In line 3, Frost says “I have outwalked the furthest city light.” In other words, he has gone past the city limit, and continues to do so. This is a constant in his routine. For another example, in line 1, Frost pens, ”I have been one acquainted with the night.” Notice the use of ”I have been...”. This tense suggests that the speaker has been acquainted to the night in the past, and continues to be so today. This particular strategy gives the poem a sense of looking back while flow of the poem alludes that it is set in chronological order. Therefore, the speaker is reminiscing on his old habits, but he continues to do those same old