The poem focuses on a scene of a lonely man acquainted with the night portrayed by Robert Frost. His use of first person perspective, vivid imagery, sensual descriptions, and the simple word choices effectively brings readers into the scene that he depicts and allow readers to easily emotionally connect with the man in the night, and perhaps even Robert Frost. The unique rhyme scheme facilitates the understanding of the poem and the reader’s emotional connection to it. 

Unlike the conventional approaches to the end rhymes, Robert Frost, who had always attempted to incorporate modern rhyme elements, like he did in The Oven Bird that begins with a couplet, took another creative approach to seperating stanzas and having end rhymes intwined within: “Acquainted with the Night” follows the pattern ABA BCB CDC DED EE. By having the end rhymes carry on to the next stanza, it transitions smoothly into another setting, another environment that Robert Frost trys to portray, without having it seem unrelated. For instance, the focus of the second stanza is on how one “looked down the saddest city lane,” portraying a gloomy and lonely scene, but the “beat” and “feet… street” rhyme to the following stanza brings the readers to the house where one hears “far away an interrupted cry.” The spacial transition that was carried out by the deliberate change of rhyme scheme highlights the unique form of this sonnet.  

Moreover, his word choice and content, simple and straightforward, unlike poems that attempt to convey abstract ideas and ambiguous sentiments, focuses solely on one’s feelings in the gloomy night. Through the vivid imagery of common objects, scenes, and encounters that everyone shares, in each stanza, he starts with a description of the surrounding and then relates to himself. In stanza two, one’s attention shifted from the saddest city lane, the watchman he’d passed to his inner reluctance to reveal his emotions. In stanza three and four, the focus shifted from perceiving a distant cry, to his loneliness and lack of valuable company: “but not to call me back or say goodbye… one luminary clock”(perhaps his lonely self) “against the sky.” The ending does so as well, from one lamenting the unfortunate timing, to how he’s inevitably the only lonely one acquainted with the night. 

Although it is unclear what theme/message Robert Frost attempts to convey through this sonnet, the well-structured and the thoughtfulness of each stanza allows the reader to determine what to grasp out of this sonnet. For instance, if one is fond of his portrayal of the gloominess and hopelessness the sonnet portrays, then they might put emphasis on walking in and out of the rain, outwalking “the furthest city light,” ones dropped eyes and reluctance to reveal themself (their exclusion from the society perhaps). Whereas if one is to focus on the beauty, calmness of the wholesome acquaintance with the night, then they might put emphasis on how one loves their surroundings so much and perceives details through all senses: the sound, the look, the motion…. Moreover, one may also incorporate this scene into a bigger picture such as the society as a whole. Like the lonely one acquainted with the night, they are perhaps the outlyers, the underpriviledged, the most common ones, miserable and clueless where they’ll end up; and the cry (maybe of a baby) depicts the middle class, the settled ones with familys and stable income, while they still struggle with their own “cries” and issues; and ones that are not as much acquainted with the night, would be the ones in the city lights, within the streets and peacefully inhabiting the neighborhood, perhaps wealthy and sharing difference acquaintances. 

The constant repetition of “I”, the rich use of sensual descriptions, display of one’s sad inner emotions’ connection to the gloomy surrounding, and the setting, extremely relatable to the common audience, portrays a single soul’s impressions of common experiences in the loveliest and most vivid way possible.