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 themovie,
hoping Frost too, had heard the voice and realized how
well it fit.
(Hear my reading of the poem at JohnKalllio.com)
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