Terence FERNANDEZ wrote:
Hello !
I'm a French pupil in a special american section (OIB). With my class, we have studyed poems of Robert Frost, and made an essay on "Acquainted with the night". But I had had a bad mark to this essay, cause I've made a bad analysis and not outline. But I want to understand what is a good analysis on this poem (with all like the outline,...). Please, could somebody send me it? THANK YOU A LOT for your answer.
Bye!
Terence FERNANDEZ
Given the levels of kindness and courtesy shown me as a young American sailor briefly visiting France (Cannes & Marseilles), I'm happy to have an opportunity to return the favor.
I am not familiar with French outlining formats, and so will just give you some general tips, from my perspective. For the record, I was an English major at Purdue University (class of '72) and am quite familiar with Frost's work.
Firstly, let's get the poem out where we can all see it:
Acquainted with the Night
I have been one acquainted with the night.
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
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-by;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
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Robert Frost was, of course, a New England peasant-farmer, which makes it clear why you'd come to alt.appalachian.literature for this information. He was also notoriously homosexual, and unlike some of his nature poems, this one is one of his simplest to understand. He is being quite literal, quite plain spoken, though a European might easily miss the fact this is essentially a description of a gay man's prowl through city streets, at a time when such behavior was, in this country, fraught with danger.
Hence, "...passed by the watchman on his beat / And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain." In America, homosexual males "cruise" by slipping around rough and dangerous areas of their towns, attempting to make surreptitious eye contact with anyone who interests them. Policemen are quite aware of this behavior, and in the early twentieth century, were not at all hesitant to arrest or -- even worse -- seriously beat up any gay man they caught doing such things.
The "interrupted cry" is most likely a reference to Frost's hearing two other gay men who've been far more successful than he at making a carnal connection. Robert Frost was, you see, a very unattractive man, given to bad personal hygiene and more than a little overweight. By the time he realized -- and openly confessed -- his sexual orientation, Frost was old as well, factors which did not make him attractive when he cruised those "saddest city lanes" (a reference to the "bad" parts of town that generally attract homosexuals).
Having gotten you off on the right foot, Terence, I will leave it to you to build on this analysis. Again, you're fortunate your teacher assigned such an "obvious" Frost work.
Poems like "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening" are far more obscure in their imagery, though "My little horse must think it queer..." does make clear what's really going on.
Good luck.
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