Shmoop - Acquainted with the Night

Line 1
I have been one acquainted with the night.

• The speaker says he has been acquainted with the night. "Acquainted" is a funny word to use - it means, basically, that he has met, or has some knowledge of, the night. It is a formal, distant, and neutral way to say something. You'd say you were acquainted with someone if you had met them, but weren't friends with them.
• So, the speaker may know the night, but he's not saying that he likes it very much. He's not saying that he dislikes it, either. Just that he's acquainted.
• Then, not only does the speaker use "acquainted," a strange word to talk about knowing something, he says it in a strange way - he "has been one," instead of he "has been." It's possible that this is written this way to keep the steady rhythm of the poem (see "Form and Meter"), but the idea of having been "one" works with the lonely tone of the poem.
• The word "one" also suggests "one of many." There could be others who are acquainted with the night.
• Pay attention to this line - part of it is in the title, and it is both the first and last line of the poem. This repetition makes this line very important to the meaning and effect of the poem.

Line 2
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.

• The speaker has walked out and back - to and from home, or wherever he was - in the rain, and as we know from the first line, at night. This doesn't sound like very much fun.
• Instead of just saying he's walked out and back in rain, the speaker repeats the phrase "in rain" twice. This repetition makes us really feel how miserable walking around in the rain at night is.

Line 3
I have outwalked the furthest city light.

• Here, the speaker tells us that he's walked past the furthest city light. We're not sure whether he's walking outside of the city and into the country, or into a part of the city where there are no lights. But wherever he's walking, it's dark.
• This line is creepy. Though the use of the past tense throughout the poem ("I have walked") makes us think that that all of these walks may have happened at different times, we start to envision one rainy, dark night.
• We are so deep in the depths of this lonely night that there's nothing, not even a glimpse of a city light, to guide our way.

Line 4
I have looked down the saddest city lane.

• Here, the speaker is simply looking down a lane, or small street, that seems sad. Of course, we know that streets don't have feelings, but the speaker of this poem is so sad that even the street seems sad to him.
• We don't get any details about what makes this lane so sad. We can imagine that the houses are all boarded up, that there are no people there, or maybe the street is strewn with trash - but this is left up to us. All that we know from the poem is that we're seeing this street at night, and it's sad.
• The street is not only sad, but it's the saddest. This is similar to how the city light was not only far, but the furthest. The speaker wants to let us know that the kinds of nights he's writing about are not just your average dark and lonely nights, but the darkest, the loneliest.

Line 5
I have passed by the watchman on his beat

• The speaker has walked by the watchman, who is probably some sort of policeman or security guard.
• The watchman is "on his beat," which is another way to say that he's on duty, making his normal rounds.
• This is the only point in the poem where the speaker is in the physical presence of another person, even though he's in a city. Still, a policeman isn't the friendliest person to walk by on a dark, lonely night. This watchman seems to be just as cold and distant as everything else in the poem.

Line 6
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

• The speaker looks down, avoiding the glance of the watchman, because he doesn't want to explain something. We're not told what he's unwilling to explain. Maybe he's doing something that he shouldn't be doing, or maybe he is just so trapped in his own loneliness that he doesn't want to have to face another person.
• This line dashes any hope we had of the speaker making contact with another person, and making his night a little less lonely. The speaker is shy, and walks by, trying to escape being noticed.
• The speaker is also unwilling to explain something to the watchman, just like a lot of this poem is left unexplained for the reader. We don't know exactly where our speaker is, or why he's walking around at night, and, in this line, we don't even have an explanation for why we don't have an explanation! Looks like we'll have to just use our imaginations.

Line 7
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet