Specifically, how Frost plays with the sonnet in
Acquainted with the Night
On advice rec'd in the general discussion forum,
I've been reading and looking for modern metrical
poetry. Reading and reading and close reading,
Shakespeare, Frost, e.e. cummings, the various
anthologies I've collected, etc. So, I've come
across Acquainted with the Night and
the poem sparked my curiosity. I didn't link
at first the relation to sonnet form, but once
I started looking deeper, I noticed the 14 lines,
the closing couplet, and the rhyme scheme...
I'm not even sure, besides those clues, that the
poem is a sonnet... When I tried scanning
the lines, most were tetrameter, with the only
strict iambic pentameter in l.13. I could just
be too new at this to really see the 5 feet per
line and just bungled up my scan of it. I'm using
Gwyn's Pocket Anthology, and didn't notice in a
quick skim any other poems like this one.
I really admire the poem, and I want to understand
what is going with it.
So My Questions:
Is Frost's poem, in fact, a take on the sonnet?
If not, what kind of form is this?
Am I correct in scanning most of the lines as tetrameter?
What other questions do I need to be asking?
Learned opinions/facts most welcome...
Thanks,
Eric
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