DICTION AS FOUND IN POETRY OF ROBET FROST’S ACQUINTED WITH THE

NIGHT

By :

Name : Ayu Mareta Mulyawati

Student Number : 173211038

Class : English Letters/ 5B

Lecturer : Mrs. Nur Asiyah., M.A

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT

CULTURES AND LANGUAGES FACULTY
THE STATE ISLAMIC INSTITUTE OF SURAKARTA
2019/2020
Due: Friday, 20 December 2019
A. INTRODUCTION
Poetry is one of literary works containing rhythm written in lines and related to
the selection of beautiful diction. Poetry is usually a form of expression of the feel of
the poet who is lifted from the stories around the poet to convey certain meanings
implicitly. In many poems there are many themes that are usually presented by the
poet. There is a theme of divinity which usually shows the religious experience of the
chosen poet, the poet also characterizes servitude and worship, the theme of
nationality or patriotism which shows the poet's love for the nation and state of diction
which is also used which reflects the sense of belonging and valuing the services of
the heroes, the theme of humanity that characterizes the dignity of human beings, the
theme of social justice that shows inequality, suffering or misery of the people, the
theme of popular sovereignty that reflects criticism or opposes a power and there are
still more themes the others.
Acquinted with the Night by Robert Frost tells the story of depression and sadness
in it that no one cares about him. This poem was chosen because it contains an implicit
meaning which is interesting to discuss, from how the poet chooses his diction,
whatever imagery is applied and the figurative language contained in the Acquinted
with the Night poetry.

B. DISCUSSION

a. Paraphrase

In the poem Acquinted with the Night, which contains the depression, sadness
and loneliness of the poet, the first stanza uses this poetry as a basic there is
knowledge about the night itself from the word "I have" which characterizes that
he is familiar with the night and rain. The night here means loneliness, darkness
and the rain is the time where when it rains and he goes out through the cities that
are very crowded with lights that decorate it the poet still cannot see the hope of
the lights that are brightly lit, until he returned the rain also never stopped, he still
experienced the same feeling at a different time.

In the second stanza he has passed through sadness city stressing that he was
really in a sad feeling, he walked as if he was looking for a solution about what he
was going through. Then finally meeting the night watchman, but he was also
 reluctant to look at the guard, he chose to look down as if there was something he
covered up or maybe he was ashamed and sorry for what he had done.

On the third lines he was accustomed to walking alone, his steps finally
stopped by the sound of loud cries, which were able to surpass the houses on other
roads.

On the fifth lines is described again how lonely he is, how ignorant the people
he passes to him, until he is awakened by the famous hour of the moon. The moon
as a clock there illustrates how much the same fate as an isolated moon alone. But
from there he learned that a moon that alone could illuminate many people, he also
had to try to improve his affairs.

The last one is a time-shift of his doubts, of the right or wrong path he took.
But once again emphasized that he already has knowledge of the night, he is
familiar with it.

b. Intrinsic element of poerty

Imagery that contained in Acquinted with the Night:

1. I have been one acquainted with the night.

Night: Visual imagery because the he can see that night is dark
2. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
Walked out: Kinesthetic imagery because that is categorized of body
movement.
3. I have outwalked the furthest city light.
Outwalked : Kinesthetic imagery because that is categorized of body
movement
City light: Visual imagery because his eyes catch something light.
4. I have looked down the saddest city lane.
Looked down: Linesthetic imagery because the body is move
Saddest city line: Tactile imagery because representation of internal sensation
there is sadness in that city.
5. When far away an interrupted cry.
Interrupted cry: Auditory imagery because he heard someone cry
6. One luminary clock against the sky
Sky: Visual imagery because his eyes catch something that is the sky
 7. I have been one acquainted with the night.
Night: visual because he can see that night is dark.

Figurative Language that contained in Acquinted with the Night:

1. I have been one acquainted with the night.
One: Symbol, because symbolized number (singular)
Night: Symbol, because word of “night” can symbolized depressed,
loneliness, darkness.
2. I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
Rain: Symbol, because rain can symbolized depressed, memories, loneliness
3. I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have Outwalked the furthest: Hyperbole, because impossible human can
walk the furthest city.
Light: Symbol, the word of “light” can symbolized hope.
4. And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
And dropped my eyes: Hyperbole
5. One luminary clock against the sky
Luminary clock: Metaphor
6. Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
Proclaimed: Personification.
7. I have been one acquainted with the night
One: Symbol, because symbolized number (singular)
Night: Symbol, because word of “night” can symbolized depressed,
loneliness, darkness.
Meter
All lines in poetry “Acquinted with the Night” use pentameter.
Assonance, Alliteration, Repetition
Assonance: There is no assonance in this poetry
Alliteration: In the words of “stood still and stopped the sound”
Repetition: In the words of “I have” seven repetitions
And words of “I have been one acquainted with the night” one
repetitions

c. Short Biography of the author

 Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California, United States on March
26, 1874 and passed away in January 1963, his parents worked as teachers who
eventually moved to San Francisco and changed professions as a journalist. Frost
is a well-known poet of the 20th century; most of his work has many social
themes. He has created many poems, Frost initially worked as a farmer and
eventually moved to England to become a teacher and there published his first
poem entitled A Boy's Wil. In fact there are many versions of the title of the poem
he successfully published kutipkata.com saying that Frost's first poem was "My
Butterfly: an Elegy," published in The Independent, a weekly literary journal
based in New York. He also won the PULITZER PRIZES four times and was
awarded a gold medal at the United States Congress.

d. Analysis
This analysis used a qualitative approach with a content analysis method in
poetry “Acquinted with the Night”. The data is taken from word or phrase in those
poetry. Called descriptive research because this research includes collecting,
grouping, analyzing and interpreting research data so it is not limited to collecting
and compiling data (Winarno, 1995)
According to Keraf (2008) diction is words used to convey an idea that
includes expressions, fraselogy and language style. Meanwhile, according to
Widyamartaya (1990) diction is nuances of meaning with ideas according to
meanings that can be precisely distinguished by someone. So it can be concluded
that diction is the right choice of words chosen by the poet to express his feelings
in accordance with the theme to be raised.
According to Keraf (2008) there are two diction contained in poetry, that is
denotative and connotative. This denotative and connotative can be divided into
concrete and abstract. In this analysis the writer will use this theory to analyze the
poem "Acquinted with the Night" by Robert Frost.
a. Denotative Concrete
Denotative concrete here means the poet expresses the original meaning
that can be accepted directly by the reader and contained emotional values.
Here we find 6 data included in denotative concrete. On the fifth lines
"watchman on his beat" there is very clear meaning that there is a guard who is
walking to and fro.
 b. Denotative Abstract
Denotative abstract means that there are words that are meaningful but
cannot be touched with the senses. Here are found 4 data included in the
denotative abstract. In the first line in "acquainted with the night" explains that
he is indeed friends with the night but the word "night" is included in the
abstract word because not everyone has the same concept in the word "night"
here.
c. Connotative Abstract
Connotative abstract here is a diction where the sentence is a figuratively
sentence and everyone obviously has a different concept or view. In this
poetry found 4 data that are included in the category of connotative abstract. In
"luminary clock against the sky" clearly everyone must have a different
concept of how to be clocked against the sky.

e. CONCLUSION
From the poetry analysis Acquainted with the Night the author found that the
most diction use in this poetry is denotative concrete which means the poet wants
to convey certain meanings explicitly so that the reader is easier to understand but
still with deep sentences until the reader feels what the poet feels, of course with
beautiful and appropriate language. With elements contained in poetry. Poets are
also very good at symbolizing something that is closely related to the theme. This
style of research illustrates the emergence of diction choices to express the
uniqueness and uniqueness of language expression as a means to create certain
meaningful effects.

f. REFERENCES
https://www.linguistikid.com/2018/04/mengenal-jenis-jenis-tema-puisi.html

https://www.kaskus.co.id/thread/5cf8a0b3f4d6956a910c2426/robert-frost-sang-
penyair terkenal-pada-abad-ke-20/

https://www.kutipkata.com/pengarang/robert-frost/robert-frost-025/

Kun Andyan Anindita, Soediro Satoto, Sumarlam (2017). “Diction in Poetry Anthology
Surat Kopi by Joko Punirbo as A Poetry Writing teaching Material. Journal Unnes