Loneliness and Isolation

The poem is heavily dominated by the first-person pronoun, suggesting a singular isolated character drowning in a faceless exterior world. The first stanza in particular highlights the speaker’s sorrow and loneliness through its imagery and word choice; the word “acquainted” itself suggests only a passing familiarity, rather than true connection, and the speaker’s only friendship is with the night itself. In this context, the night is synonymous with internal darkness and despair. Likewise, the rain can be read as a metaphor for human sorrow. At this point in the poem, the speaker knowingly distances themself from “the furthest city light” (Line 3), eschewing all human contact. The second stanza introduces the only secondary character, the night watchman (or beat cop, in contemporary terms), which offers the speaker a momentary opportunity for human connection; however, they avert their eyes, preferring to remain in a...