The poem “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe depicts the personal life and challenges Poe faced as a child. For example, the poem begins with Poe explaining how he knew he was different from other children, this is apparent when Poe writes, “From childhood's hour I have not been/ As others were-- I have not seen” (Poe ll. 1-2). Poe further goes on to explain how he felt abandoned and apart from his peers, stating “And all I lov'd-- I lov'd alone” (Poe 8). I believe this explains how Poe felt alone after his parents died, as if no one else understood what he was going through. Further into the poem, Poe explains how he had to face the “evil” in his life while his peers mainly had “good” lives. This is apparent at the end of the poem, when Poe writes, “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)/ Of a demon in my view--” (Poe 21-22). Although the poem is only 22 lines, Poe uses multiple poetic device throughout the whole poem.
Throughout “Alone” Poe uses various poetic devices to captivate his reader. For instance, Poe uses external rhyme throughout the whole poem. For instance, Poe ends each line, where the first two lines rhyme, the next two rhyme, and so on. Along with the use of rhyming, Poe also uses descriptive imagery. A main example of imagery in Poe's poem would be “From the lightning in the sky/ As it pass'd me flying by--/ From the thunder, and the storm--/ And the cloud that took the form” (Poe 17-20). This would be a good example of imagery in the poem because it shows the darkness that Poe faces, while also providing the image of a thunder and lightning storm. Another poetic device Poe used in the poem is his tone. Poe gives readers of “Alone” a sense of remoteness, mystery, and darkness. Poe explains how he was alone in line 8; whic...
... middle of paper ...
...ble to connect with it.
For me, “Alone” was easy to connect with. I was able to connect with the poem in various ways. The theme of the poem played a large role in my connection to the poem. For example, Poe mentions how he knew he was different from his peers at a young age. I was able to connect with the poem at this section because, from my parent's divorce to my sister living with my grandparents, I knew my life was different than those around me. I was also able to connect to the poem because when I faced depression from eighth to tenth grade, I had a pessimistic view on life; similar to Poe's last two lines in “Alone”. Due to these reasons, it was easy for me to connect to Edgar Allan Poe's poem “Alone”.
Works Cited
Poe, Edgar Allan. "Alone." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
.
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreMany of Poe’s stories and poems can be tied to events that have happened in his life. A lot of the hard times that he had had gone through in his life he used as motivation to write his poems and stories. For example the story “The Masque of the Red Death” is thought of to be related to the consumption (aka tuberculosis), which took the life of many of the women he loved. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the dying old man good be seen as Poe’s adoptive father on his death bed, and how the old mans eye made the murderer uncomfortable could be an analogy for how Poe’s father made him feel uncomfortable because he knew that his father did not love him.
Next, Poe may have been influenced by his gloomy childhood to write the poem “Alone.” First, many of Poe’s family members, including his parents, died when he was young
The noticeable characteristic of the speaker in "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe is his stand-offishness. He cuts himself off from the outside world, not because the world itself is terrible but because of his inward problems. This seclusion can bring ugly internal demons to the surface. The complications resulting from isolation can include sadness, fear, despair, anger, insanity, self-torture, and feelings of entrapment. Each of these can be seen in "The Raven," manifested in the speaker of the poem.
Edgar Allan Poe was an excellent horror, suspense, and mystery writer of the eighteenth century. His use of literary devices and different literary techniques makes this writer important to American literature. This paper will show how Edgar Allan Poe has made an impact on Society and American literature as well as how Edgar Allan Poe developed the short story. I will also discuss and analyze some of his works and techniques he uses in his short stories and poems.
Some of his writings were much more personal for Poe such as “The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Even through both poems, reflect his personal life in some way “The Raven” portrays his own personal experiences. The death of his wife was one of the most influential deaths he had to deal with. Her death led to a period of hard drinking and staying up all hours to watch over her grave, sometimes even sleeping on her grave to be closer to her. During this period of hopelessness led to the writing of “The Raven.” The poem “The Raven” is about a man and his sorrow over the death of Lenore. The raven, which may symbolize the devil, forever hunting him and a living reminder of the death of his wife. In the poem, he shows the world of his pain of having his wife taken away from him and compares death to the raven. This shows us how the raven reminds him of what he suffered after the death of his wife. The Raven” gives us an idea of what Poe was dealing with during this time of depression. Poe knew this direct and individual experience well, unlike his other works. “The Raven” was a more personal experience to Poe because it talked about something that touched him deeply and affected his. “The Raven” was a poem about his own actual life. In this way “The Raven” is a prime example of the true Poe and how his life affected his
In “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe examines his early life through the lens of an outsider, connecting the emotional instability of his childhood years to his present desolation. He struggles with his insecurities and succumbs to darker thoughts- the very culprit of his isolation. Poe confesses how his lurking demons have led to his alienation because of his innate emotional inability to view the world like others. Therefore, the outside world has never bothered to understand his somber self simply because he differed from others.
The poem “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe depicts the personal life and challenges Poe faced as a child. The poem begins with Poe explaining how he knew he was different from other children. A quote that clearly portrays this would be, “From childhood's hour I have not been/ As others were-- I have not seen” (Poe ll. 1-2). Poe goes on to explain how he felt abandoned and severed from his peers, stating “And all I lov'd-- I lov'd alone” (Poe 8). I believe the previous quote explains how Poe felt alone after his parents died. Later on in the poem, Poe explains how he would only see the “evil” in life while his peers saw the “good”. This is proven at the end of the poem, when Poe writes, “(When the rest of Heaven was blue)/ Of a demon in my view--” (Poe 21-22). Although the poem is only twenty-two lines, Poe uses multiple poetic device throughout the poem.
Edgar Allan Poe had a peculiar way with his work. He was adopted early in his life to be spared from poverty and heartache (Roberts and Zweig 226). But in the Big Read it is stated that he still felt a satisfaction from women’s suffering. Poe just wanted to be a writer and followed his passion into judging others work to support himself (Roberts and Zweig 226). Some say that he is selfish and indulgent. Sadly the death of Poe is still a mystery but his works affect people’s lives on a daily basis. The elegance of Poe’s prose invokes an emotional reaction he was subject to during his childhood that later led to the creation of the most influential works of the 19th Century.
For some individuals, poetry is a form of freedom and expression. It is one of the many creative ways to release feelings of anger and happiness from the human mind. The intensity of every rhythm and word, and style of each poem allows readers to uncover deeper significance to the context. The rich variety achieved by mixing a combination of human imagination and reality to tell a story with deeper meaning is remarkable. This concept of combining poems and human imagination together was popularized by Edgar Allan Poe. Living an impoverished life, Poe penned stories of horror and mystery into collections of poems and short stories. He expressed his thoughts on paper with great thrill and excitement. Known for his wild imagination that included suspenseful, dark tales, he posed as a literary figure and inspired many across the world.
Once Poe said that his writing was pure nonsense and didn’t have a reason, but his works have touched many, even today. Edgar Allan Poe was married to his cousin, Virginia Clemm, who may have influenced his writing by her death. Nevertheless, Poe’s depression, may have been the true reason behind his writing. He had many unfortunate events and writing might have been his escape from the chaos besides his alcohol abuse. Poe writes in his essay The Philosophy of Composition that “A close circumscription of space is absolutely necessary to the effect of insulated incident:—it has the ...
The life of Edgar Allan Poe, was stuffed with tragedies that all affected his art. From the very start of his writing career, he adored writing poems for the ladies in his life. When he reached adulthood and came to the realization of how harsh life could be, his writing grew to be darker and more disturbing, possibly as a result of his intense experimenting with opium and alcohol. His stories continue to be some of the most frightening stories ever composed, because of this, some have considered this to be the reason behind these themes. Many historians and literature enthusiasts have presumed his volatile love life as the source while others have credited it to his substance abuse. The influence of his one-of-a-kind writing is more than likely a combination of both theories; but the main factor is the death of many of his loved ones and the abuse which he endured. This, not surprisingly, darkened his perspective considerably.
For Poe, the hyperbole of his life was that his father abandoned him and that his mother died when he was just two years old. As Poe lived with the wealthy John and Frances Allan, he knew them as his parents, although their relationship was not biological. He held a close bond with Frances but not John (The Biography, 2015). In Poe’s late teenage years, the Allan’s only provided Poe with a third of the money he required to continue his college education, leaving him in debt and forcing him to drop out of school in less than a year (Poe Stories, 2005). In The Raven it is evident in the second stanza that the narrator is feeling quite lonely, that he no longer has anyone there for him, this is perpendicular to Poe as he was virtually abandoned by the family that nurtured him for practically his whole life. The stressed feelings of abandonment heightened by the trochaic octameter and hyperbole creates a defined association between Poe’s individual feelings of abandonment from his younger years, which may have been reminiscent to the imminent loss of his wife
Edgar Allan Poe?s ?The Raven? is a dark reflection on lost love, death, and loss of hope. The poem examines the emotions of a young man who has lost his lover to death and who tries unsuccessfully to distract himself from his sadness through books. Books, however, prove to be of little help, as his night becomes a nightmare and his solitude is shattered by a single visitor, the raven. Through this poem, Poe uses symbolism, imagery and tone, as well as a variety of poetic elements to enforce his theme of sadness and death of the one he loves.
The poem "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe, written in 1830, is about how Poe was always different, and he could never really fit in, he was always sad. The meaning of the poem "Alone", is that of Poe being so different, being left out, not fitting in, and the feeling of sorrowness. The poem is attempting to teach the meaning by the way Poe writes of his sorrowness and his sense of being different, his seeking to solve the mystery of why he "lives" and why he was born, and finally why his life is so different, when others are living completely normal and happy lives.
Poe’s most famous poem begins with an imagery that immediately brings the reader into a dark, cold, and stormy night. Poe does not wish for his readers to stand on the sidelines and watch the goings on, but actually be in the library with the narrator, hearing what he hears and seeing what he sees. Using words and phrases such as “midnight dreary” and “bleak December” Poe sets the mood and tone, by wanting his readers to feel the cold night and to reach for the heat of the “dying embers” of the fireplace. You do not come into this poem thinking daffodils and sunshine, but howling winds and shadows. By using these words, Poe gives you the sense of being isolated and alone. He also contrasts this isolation, symbolized by the storm and the dark chamber, with the richness of the objects in the library. The furnished room also reminds him of the beauty of his lost Lenore. Also, Poe uses a rhythm in his beginning stanza, using “tapping”, followed by “rapping, rapping at my door”, and ending with “tapping at my chamber door.” You can almost hear the tapping on the door of the library as ...