Through the poems “We Grow Accustomed to the Night” by Emily Dickinson and “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost, the reader is shown how significant darkness are to both of the poems themes. Yet despite both having the same significance, through point of view, diction and structure, the tones of both pieces differ.
The first instance of how the tones are different is through the point of views used in each poem. In Dickinson’s poem second person is used. This choice makes the poem more open and relatable to the reader. They feel as if the darkness that is faced by the speaker is the same as what every human has or will face at least once in their life. Compared to Frost’s poem that is in first person, Dickinson manages to capture the relatability of suffering. Frost mentions such darkness yet his speaker is almost entirely alone in his…show more content… In Frost’s poem he uses the word “acquainted” when referring to his relationship with the night, whereas Dickinson uses the word “accustomed”. This word choice is significant as it sets up the rest of the poem and the way the tone will direct the reader. Robert Frost shows his speaker alone in his suffering and how this loneliness has allowed him to become acquainted with the darkness inside him. He knows that this part of himself is there and instead of fighting it, chooses to get to know it instead. In Emily Dickinson’s poem, however, the speaker does the opposite. They realize that there is this dark night inside their soul, a suffering, yet instead of succumbing to it decides to fight against it. Dickinson also tells the readers that they can fight their own darkness too. That you can push past the night and it’ll be dark soon. This difference in diction shows that despite having a darkness inside there are different ways to deal with it. This meaning emphasizes the tone of despair in Frost’s poem and the resilience in
