Alone Poem by Edgar Allan Poe

Alone

 

From childhood's hour I have not been

As others were; I have not seen

As others saw; I could not bring

My passions from a common spring.

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow; I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone;

And all I loved, I loved alone.

Then- in my childhood, in the dawn

Of a most stormy life- was drawn

From every depth of good and ill

The mystery which binds me still:

From the torrent, or the fountain,

From the red cliff of the mountain,

From the sun that round me rolled

In its autumn tint of gold,

From the lightning in the sky

As it passed me flying by,

From the thunder and the storm,

And the cloud that took the form

(When the rest of Heaven was blue)

Of a demon in my view.

     

     This poem is about perspective of an adult looking back on his childhood. When I looked at this poem at first, I felt really sad for his childhood. He was very different, and special than other people. He had no friends, and he was alone. Therefore he loved alone, and he was always very dark. First I thought about tone of this poem. The tone of this poem was very somber, recollection, and very dark. The poem consists of 11 rhyming couplets. The first four lines demonstrate the rhyming pattern. I also really liked this rhyming pattern of this poem, because it showed really good expressions of his situation in childhood. In each of sentences there are 8 syllables of beats in this poem. There are no stanzas in this poem. It has only one paragraph, and there are 22 lines in this poem. Also the form for this poem is AA, BB, CC, DD, EE. I really liked that there are many repetitions in this poem. For example mostly it started with as others, I have not, and from. From CHILD.. hood’s HOUR.. I HAVE.. not BEEN. This sentence was demonstrating the pattern of meter. In my opinion since his childhood, he has been unlike others. He had his own emotions, but he did not develop with many people. He was alone most of the time, and he was melancholy child. Every time he says that he loved alone. However he wanted many different friends like other people. He was too special for many people. Also I could think about this situation when I read this poem. He felt encourage about himself after he knew that there was hope for him. Also in line 9 ‘Then- in my childhood, in the dawn.’ In the dawn I think it means about hope in his stormy life, and hard life without his family. However when he became adult he married, and he had wife with baby to stay with him. I really liked this poem, and it felt me life is hard, but there is hope in everywhere.