The loneliness of a rainy night walk evokes thoughts of sadness and isolation, in Robert Frost's poem "Knowledge of the Night". A short narrative poem has the speaker describing a solitary walk during the night hours in a city setting. The poem is very dark in many aspects, in the atmosphere, the night, and the walker's visual and auditory observations. There are thoughts and feelings of loneliness and desperation while reading this poem. The impression of the poem is that of a lost soul who has had a possible tragic event in his life or is living an unsatisfactory life. The night walk and surroundings are reflections on his solitary soul. The style of the poem is a sonnet; the language used in the poem is clear and simple. The poet Frost tells a story in an easy-to-read form. There is repetition throughout the poem. For example; “‘I have been,’ I have gone out in the rain, ‘I have walked outside,’” (Frost 1-2-3). There is a comparison within the poem, between a night watchman (the only person mentioned) in the poem and the walker. Frost makes the comparison between both of them being alone at night, with the night watchman walking with a purpose, while the walker's purpose is undefined. The mood of the poem is one of brooding and sorrow, along with loneliness from position 2, line 1 “I looked down the saddest alley in the city” (Frost 4). The mood of sorrow reflected in the poem by the previous line could be a visual description of closed shops or dilapidated buildings that appear worse for wear at night, deserted and empty; it must be bad because it's not just sad but described as the saddest. No mention of the people along the city street, which adds to the loneliness and emptiness of the night. The speaker's ruminations give way to melancholy, while he... middle of paper... alone at night. Although it is not mentioned in the poem, there is an overture of a weight or "sigh" from the speaker's tone. The symbolism of the night conveys a sense of fear. There is no sense in the poem that the speaker finds comfort in the walk or the conditions of the night; darkness, rain, silence, solitude are all there is. The poem evokes the fear one feels in the darkness, be it the actual darkness of a street or the darkness of thoughts. Most people are able to imagine the walker's fear in the poem as someone who has not been in that situation in life. Sometimes we walk alone even when we are surrounded by a busy world with our inner thoughts and fears influencing us in the darkness and the light. Works Cited Frost, Robert. "Knowing the night." Literature to go. Ed. Michael Mayer. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's, 2011. 429. Print