September 11, 2003 (I was 58)
Acquainted With The Night
Note from Jay Parini,
Robert Frost: A Life, Henry Holt 1999, p. 246
Acquainted With The Night: “The poem was, Frost later
suggested, ‘written for the tune.’ Although a sonnet by
form, with a closing couplet, the poem has the
fluid
repetitive aspect of a villanelle with the
three line stanzas
mimicking the terza rima of Danté –appropriate
for a
poem about the descent into darkness.”
I always read the poem to students mimicking
the voice
of Bela Lugosi in Dracula. It puts an appropriate spin to
the narration.
The movie and the poem are of a common
era. The
poem is circa 1927 and the film was released in
the U.S. on Jan. 1, 1930. When I discovered the voice for
my interpretation, I wished the poem came after
the movie,
hoping Frost too, had heard the voice and
realized how
well it fit. (Hear my reading of the poem at
JohnKallio.com)
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