Comparison essay Frost and Dickinson

Olivia Miller
AP English
Mr. Smith
19 October 2014
Dark and Night The two poems “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost and “We grow Accustomed to the Dark” by Emily Dickinson both show many similarities, in the titles of their poems as well as their usage of literary devices. The authors create a tale about a person battling with depression and how they cope with these feelings differently and similarly. Frost and Dickinson use similar literary devices in their poems, using imagery to portray the personal feelings of the poet, metaphors to show their glum emotions, and symbolism to show the repetition of the feelings of depression through the darkness. “We grow Accustomed to the Dark” contains a great deal of imagery; as Dickinson says, “ When not a Moon disclose a sign – Or Star – come out – within” (Dickinson lines 11 and 12), portraying the image of complete darkness when the sky is lacking the brightness of the stars and moon. The use of imagery describe to you the darkness that is now overcoming her life. She seems to be searching for a new light in her life that is now becoming filled with darkness. As for Frost’s poem, “Acquainted with the Night”, his use of imagery paints a picture of a city in the midst of night. Frost uses phrases such as “the saddest city lane” (Frost line 4) and “furthest city light” (Frost line 3), meaning through the poorest parts of the town and wondering beyond the edges of the town. Towards the end of the poem Frost states, “One luminary clock against the sky” (Frost line 12), the distance between him and the moon is lonely and depressing like the speaker himself. Frost’s use of imagery explains the depths of the darkness he is enduring. The dark atmosphere that the nighttime constructs, creates a metaphor of depression and loneliness within these two poems. From Dickinson’s poem, she forms the explanation that the day both has times of darkness and light, as well as our hearts and minds. The metaphorical use of the term “darkness” becomes present in the third stanza. Here Dickinson declares, “And so of larger – Darknesses – Those Evenings of the Brain” (Dickinson lines 9 and 10), protruding the overwhelming thought of the time when the daylight turns itself into darkness, the mind is also clouded with darkness and poor judgment of positive thoughts. As for Frost’s poem, walking through the city streets becomes a metaphor for persistence. Even though his journeys are very unhappy, he still continues to try to become an

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