Summary

The speaker considers their experiences walking through a city on rainy nights. On these nights, they view desolate empty alleys and pass by night watchmen, avoiding their eyes so as not to draw attention to themself. As they pass through the city, they hear voices of other people’s lives and see an illuminated clock tower. The clock makes the speaker feel as though they’re caught in a space outside of time.

Analysis

“Acquainted with the Night” opens with five lines that each start with the same first-person phrase: “I have”. This is an example of anaphora, a literary device which uses repeated opening words or phrases to create rhythm and compound an idea. In this instance, the phrase contributes to the regular iambic rhythm of the poem as well as mimicking the regular cadence of the speaker’s footsteps. In the opening...