"Alone"

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.

-Edgar Allan Poe

Poe's Childhood

Edgar Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809. That makes him Capricorn, on the cusp of Aquarius. His parents were David and Elizabeth Poe. David was born in Baltimore on July 18, 1784. Elizabeth Arnold came to the U.S. from England in 1796 and married David Poe after her first husband died in 1805. They had three children, Henry, Edgar, and Rosalie.

In 1831,Edgar Allan Poe went to New York City were he had some of his poetry published. He submitted stories to a number of magazines and they were all rejected. Poe had no friends, no job, and was in financial trouble. He sent a letter to John Allan begging for help but none came. John Allan died in 1834 and did not mention Edgar in his will.

In this poem "Alone," Edgar Allan Poe talks about being alone in terms of not being able to experience things as others do. Edgar Allan Poe had a dark, disturbing, and somewhat twisted manner of writing. Some readers and critics consider his writing pessimistic. His writing also has a sense of honesty and sadness to it.

In this poem, Poe presents gothic images of a person who feels alone in this world. He accomplishes this by contrasting how the speaker views himself, with how he views the rest of the world emphasizing the isolation he feels from the rest of the world.

Poe tells  that even during his childhood he was different than other people. "From my childhood's hour I have not been / As others were" (line 1). He also says he viewed things from a different perspective than other people did. "I have not seen/ As others saw." Also, he states he was unable to feel deep strong love from the same source as other people. "I could not bring/ My passions from a common spring"(3). "Spring" here symbolizes an origin or source of passion.

Erika Berdin and Wong Tsz Man