Hsc English - as You Like It

In a toxic world, full of negative influences, it is the relationships and ties that we form which define who we are as humans beings. The subsequent texts: ‘As good as it gets’ directed by James L. Brooks, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ written by T.S Elliot and ‘Acquainted with the night” written by Robert Frost, through various poetic and filmic techniques, act as   a reflection on the importance and the strengthening values of relationships to our human existence. It is through the struggles experienced by the characters in the aforementioned texts which allow us as humans to appreciate a helping hand.
As social beings we desire human relations, and it is an absence of this that causes us to lose faith and our sense of self. ‘Acquainted with the Night’ follows the dreary journey of a man who has lost all faith in the human race and wanders the dark city streets searching for answers. From the beginning of the poem, Frost uses negative imagery to portray the bleak state of the city which reflects upon the thoughts and feelings of the persona. The persona is said to have “walked out in rain and down the saddest city lane” all of which represents his solitary and inner conflicts. This creates a sombre aura of sadness which the reader is immediately immersed in. In the third stanza, the persona hears ‘an interrupted cry’ far off in the distance. This physical separation from the caller is a metaphor for the emotional detachment due to the persona’s lack of human contact. Personification is a device Frost uses throughout the poem to highlight yet again the absence of any humans in the persona’s life. The personification of the moon of the ‘luminary clock in the sky’ as a figure of wisdom shows the social detachment of the persona as the moon becomes his only confidante. An important symbol carried throughout the poem is that of darkness. The persona likens the dark to all the encompassing aspects of the night life – the gloom, the fear and the loneliness....