Analysis Of Poe's 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

"Alone," the simple yet complex poem by Edgar Allan Poe, can be viewed to be born from many different origins. What we do know about the poem is that it is simply beautiful. Even though its beauty is known by the contrasting metaphors and what not, we do have to take notice in why he wrote such a thing. Was it as a basis of telling us his thoughts or was it just for our entertainment? To me, "Alone" is a direct view of Poe's life and his hardships that came from it. His constant struggles and losses geared him into what he was during his time and in this poem, he expresses that very same thing. He takes notice in the bad and the good of every event. "Alone" is the epitome of Poe's thinking and his view of himself in the eyes of the public.

From what we know about Poe, he was within himself; meaning that he didn't seek outside help on his troubles and struggles but sought his own way of dealing with it. With the lines in the poem:

"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."

We can say that Poe knew from a young age that he was different from other people. He knew that he was on the left side of the psychological plane while others were on the right. The things that made others happy, did not have the same effect on Poe. "My passion from a common spring" tells us exactly that when we read the poem.