The speaker's connection with the night represents a poet in crisis, reacting to Modernism's alterations to his profession. The notion of estrangement is clear from the opening stanza: I am familiar with the darkness. I've stepped out into the rain and returned again. The poem as a whole suggests that someone who used to be able to rely on certainty is now unable to do so. Familiarity here means more than just knowledge, but also concern. The speaker is worried about losing his way even though he is not actually far from home. Estrangement is another word for alienation. It can also mean being cut off from others or from society generally. In this case, it refers to the fact that the poet cannot trust what is given to him by language or by tradition. Night modernism is a term used by some critics to describe certain poets who worked during the early years of the 20th century. They tend to use unconventional forms and techniques, such as free verse, concrete poetry, phonetic spelling, and so on. Many of these poets were influenced by Dada and Surrealism, two other movements that developed in Europe at the time. Some critics believe that Canadian poet Archibald MacLeish was a major figure in the development of night modernism.