Alone

Alone

Edgar Allan Poe

 

“Alone” is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe; the title of this poem depicts that this piece of writing is going to be about isolation and about how Poe grew up as a child, since his mother died and his father abandoned him and his siblings. The theme of Poe’s poem is how he grew up differently compared to other children, the mood of this poem seems rather depressing and suspenseful judging from the title.

This poem is about how Edgar Allan Poe describes his childhood.

(Line 1-3) “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.”

(Line 21-22) “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)/ Of a demon in my view”

(Line 8) “And all I loved, I loved alone.”  All these examples are examples of how Poe looked at his childhood.

The setting of this poem seems like it’s from where Poe grew up, in Richmond Virginia.

(Line 14-16) “From the red cliff of the mountain,/ From the sun that round me rolled/ In its autumn tint of gold,”

(Line1) “From childhood’s hour I have not been” These are examples of how Poe described where he spent his childhood spent in Virginia.

There are many uses of figurative language in this piece of writing. For example;

(Line 1) “From childhood’s hour…” Childhood does not have an hour, it is years.

(Line 4) “My passions from a common spring.” Springs don’t create passions and such ideologies.

(Line 10) “Of a stormy life-“, (Line 11) “…Every depth of good and ill” (Line 15) “From the sun that round me rolled” (Line 21-22) “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)/ Of a demon in my view” these are all examples of figurative language used in this poem, “Alone”.

(Line 14-16) “From the red cliff of the mountain,/ From the sun that round me rolled/ In its autumn tint of gold,” (Line 17-19) “ From the lightning in the sky/ As it passed me flying by,/ From the thunder and the storm,” these are all forms of imagery in this writing piece.

Also, in this poem I found that there were rhymes couplets and end rhymes. The rhyme scheme in this poem goes like this; aabbccddeeffgghhiijjkk.

The tone and attitude of this poem is very dejected and unfortunate, (Line 1-4) “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.” These lines describe Poe as if he was rejected by society because of he did not feel passionate about the same things as other children felt together. (Line 21-22) “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)/ Of a demon in my view” this line refers to how unfortunate he was in this childhood years to not have felt the same bliss as other children felt. Poe felt like he was seeing hell wherever he was, whereas the other children saw heaven around him.

(Line 2-3) “As others were; I have not seen/ As others saw; I could not bring” the semicolons represent the pause when he compared other people against himself. Poe’s voice was consistent throughout the poem, his voice was rather depressed and gloomy, and that did not change.

(Line 21) “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)” This lines shows his thoughts; the line was a voice in his head, that it why it is in brackets.

Edgar Allan Poe’s, “Alone” is about how he spent his childhood, even teenager years alone in the company of his own mind. He preferred to be alone more than he preferred to be around other children or kids.