I have been one familiar with the night.

I have walked out in rainand back in rain.

I have wandered past the furthest city light.
I have peered down the saddest city alley.
I have snuck by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Echoed over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one familiar with the night.

In the poem Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost, Frosts use of diction helped
give his poem a sad or melancholy tone, while remaining calm and sorrowful. Words such as
acquainted, looked, passed,and came make the poem relatively calm. Changing the diction,
however, to words such as familiar, wandered, peered, alley, snuck, and echoed give the poem
more of a desolate and dark feel. I feel more cautious as a reader reading with this diction
because of the connotation these words have. These words make me feel more on my toes, or
more fearful, since they make me think of being secretive, while giving the world a more hollow
feel.