Sunday, November 14, 2010

Poetry Response #9

This week's poem of choice is "Acquainted with the Night," by Robert Frost. I really enjoyed our conversation about it in class and decided to do it for the week. Unfortunately, I was in a really bad mood then, so this dark poem fit perfectly. Now I'm in an excellent mood, so my take on this might be a bit more positive than usual.
This poem is discussing seeing the darkest hours of life. Frost's son committed suicide, which has to be one of the darkest corners the earth has to offer. He has certainly been "Acquainted with the Night," but haven't we all? Not all corners are as dark and deep, but all consume and all destroy just that little part of us that felt alive. In this poem, it really sounds like Frost is ready to go down the same dark lane as his son. He says, "I have passed by the watchman on his beat/And dropped me eyes, unwilling to explain." This of course, the watchman being the people in life who notice you are sad, but will never understand. Nevertheless, although I think it was written about suicide, I will not take it like that. The best part about the night is even though you're surrounded by darkness, if you look up there is a glimmer of light. Just a small shimmer of hope. Yes, I have been aquainted with the night. I have seen dark days, months, and even years. But I have also been acquainted with the warm summer day. Sometimes winter lasts longer than it should, but the spring does come. When we're in the dark, it's so hard to realize that light is even there. We get so consumed and our sense of time is skewed. It's hard to understand that darkness is temporary.

1 comment:

  1. I agree. It is especially hard to understand the temporary nature of it when we are in it. It seems so vast.

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