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

Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-by;

And further still at an unearthly height

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night."

"What can we know? What are we all? Poor, silly, half-brained things peering out at the infinite, with the aspirations of angels and the instincts of beasts."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Munro Stark Letters.

The nature of men has both its light and its dark sides. An idea that Confucius believed in was Yin and Yang, the balance of light and dark.

"Yin represents eternity, dark, feminine, left side of the body, etc. Yang is its opposite and represents history, light, masculine, right side of t

In this sense I think that rain contains the meaning of people's words beating down against the speaker. Voices demanding perfection and normalcy, potentially having the same stinging cold effect that rain does when it manages to find access to bare skin that the speaker tries to protect. All of those voices are telling him that his depression is wrong and why can't he just be like everyone else. gI have outwalked the farthest city light,h describes an absence from humanity. By leaving civilization, the speaker is left to mull over his true feelings, which he wouldnft otherwise reveal unless he was alone in the dark. His experience in trying to escape people trying to change him can be identified with by everyone on some level or other. Though we donft want the speaker to feel badly, we sympathize with him and want him to be able to escape those that are assailing him. This escape is probably temporary, the speaker knowing that he must return eventually to the rest of the world and face its scrutiny.

Acquainted with the Night is about a man who is struggling with his own inner dark feelings that he has been forced to suppress. As he goes on through his life trying to cope with his depression, he encounters individuals that try to change who he is because he isnft ordinary. He also runs across others who are going through a similar situation as himself, but are blinded by their own grief so that they arenft helpful either. And he even tries to find solace in a higher power, but in the end doesnft find any remedy to his sadness. Frostfs vivid imagery helps to recreate the feelings that the speaker has in our minds.

As the poem continues, Frost continues to use a dark city to represent the world of grief that the speaker resides in. gI have looked down the saddest city lane.h This city where it is always dark and rainy for the speaker undoubtedly contains many dark alleyways and sad lanes that represent different facets and experiences that contribute to his overall sadness. This particular lane that he speaks of symbolizes the heart of his sorrow, the place where he is constantly drawn in his thought. Frost leaves the source of the speakerfs grief as a mystery to us.

The first stanza in Acquainted with the Night introduces the reader to the darkness that this person feels. "I have been one acquainted with the night." The past tense that is insinuated through the beginning "I have been" signifies that the speaker has felt these feelings for some time and continues to do so. The night represents the depression that the speaker has sunk into, his own dark thoughts that keep him from finding happiness. In addition to using the night as a way to convey the darkness of the speaker's feelings, rain comes into play in the next line. "I have walked out in the rain -- and back in the rain." As Meyer has pointed out, the use of rain indicates coldness, a sense of isolation. Even when people are all bundled up to try and shelter themselves from the elements, in rain there is a tendency towards being alone, snuggled down into your jacket or having your face covered by a hat or umbrella. Rain does not often promote a social atmosphere, especially when it is raining at night.

Some topics in this essay:
Acquainted Night, Yin Yang, Robert Frost, Michael Meyer, God Frost, Gem Kingdom, acquainted night, Stark Letters, Sun Yin, saddest city, yin yang, light dark, trying change, Robert Frostfs, looked saddest city, luminary clock, balance light, stopped sound, stood stopped, eyes unwilling, saddest city lane, stood stopped sound, rain -- rain, balance light dark,