Repeat after me...

Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost is a poem filled with repetition.  Upon first reading the poem, I didn't really realize the repetition and therefore had no understanding of it.  However, after re-reading the poem, I realized Frost's use of repetition and the insight that it provided me on the meaning of the work.  The first repetition he uses is most obvious.  Frost use the word "I" to start half of the lines.  "I have been one acquainted with the night (line 1, 14)."  "I have looked down the saddest city lane (line 4)."  Other lines use the pronoun as well.  The main importance of this repetition is that it separates the speaker from other people in the story.  In fact the only other person mentioned, the watchman, he avoids.  This repetition makes the reader realize that the speaker is alone.  He has no home and is isolated from other people.  The final repetition is that of the first and last lines, quoted above.  This line simply introduces and later reinforces the topic of the poem: the speaker is familiar with night.  And because night and darkness are a symbol of evil, perhaps this means he has not led a good life.   Otherwise, it could simply mean that he has no home and wanders the streets at night with nowhere to stay.   Either way, the repetition of the first line helps reach that conclusion.