Alone Analysis

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.

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I absulotely love this poem. It shows so much about awareness and courage. I'll explain- the speaker is a hero to me, cause although a lot of people may feel the same way, most of them are caving in to the norms of society and don't have the courage to say: "and all i loved, i loved alone". Instead, they start loving other things that are fit to the social norms and start lying to themeselves about things that make them happy in life. As Poe well-put it: "From the same source I have not awaken/ My heart to joy at the same tone". Rather he wanted to express the way he felt abput his childhood or saying his thoughts about this subject in generally, i admire the narrative voice in this poem. The most amazing thing about this poem is that Poe leaves the readers without answering the question what is the mystery which binds him still.

| Posted on 2009-10-16 | by rog

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What a sad life he had. Know wonder he died at an early age because of all the loneliness and know sense of peace or control in his life. Poor guy!

| Posted on 2009-10-15 | by a guest

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I find that many of the analysis's here are correct in their own way but what a lot of people here are forgetting is that even though the poem might very well be about Poe, there is a speaker & the speaker could also be a whole different person. Anyway I find that this poem is simply about Loneliness and how it affected his view on life and other people. It tells the story of a child who was never like the rest of the kids he's heard about. He never saw what they saw or heard what he heard. everything was different for him and that was because he was abandoned and outcasted.

| Posted on 2009-09-06 | by a guest

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People are applying unnecessary symbolism to this poem. He's simply saying that he's never been the same as anyone and he knows it. He doesn't laugh at their jokes because they're not funny. He doesn't cringe at what frightens them because he's seen worse and that's normal for him. He literally saw a demon-shaped cloud and no one else seemed to notice for the same reason that colour blind folk can't read those numbers in those circle things.

| Posted on 2009-09-05 | by a guest

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the poem is so personal that it touches everyone who wil read it... i think, edgar allan poe is just saying what he experienced in his childhood.... since most of his works are of on morbid themes, this poem "alone" is something that he believesd is the summary of his journey in life and all the love that loses in him... still, he make it a point to impart something about him.

| Posted on 2009-07-18 | by a guest

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When he says "in a childhood... was drawn" he is continuing the metaphor of the sources of emotion. Therefore the following, nature and the sublime, are what he liked.
The cloud that takes the form of a demon is a metonymy for all of these sources of pleasure. It's just him wishing he was normal. That he refers to the sky as heaven just means that he sees the lives of other people as heaven. I disagree with any religious interpretation of this.
This poem resonates with me, particularly I'd always had emotions evoked from "red cliffs". There is almost certainly another layer of depth that I haven't gotten into.

| Posted on 2009-06-10 | by a guest

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this is beautiful poetry and it saddens me that some posted comments view this poem in the wrong way, for this is not optimistic it is sorrow filled, Poe had a tragic life and here he convey's his message through this wonderful art. He tells of his life and the tragedy of it all, he never fit in. The demon has been expressed as many things such as himself or even death, in my opinion there is no right answer but what you make this creature to be.

| Posted on 2009-05-26 | by a guest

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The poem is not just one meter or foot. It switches throughout the poem. The first line is iambic pentameter, then it is iambic tetrameter for 7 lines, then it is trochaic tetrameter for 6 lines, then the second to last line is iambic pentameter and it closes with trochaic tetrameter.

| Posted on 2009-05-20 | by a guest

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This poem is brilliant. It starts out talking about his childhood and how he was never like others and always alone. Then in the middle of the poem it shifts with a realization. He realizes through opening up to God's creations he is the demon obstructing his own future.

| Posted on 2009-05-20 | by a guest

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Poe felt that he was a demon. Damned. He felt that no divine influence or benevolent forces could rescue his soul. Whether be believed in anything but himself, no one will know. This poem show he knew he existed. Not that he understood, but that he knew. And he was his own private demon. Beautiful. Dangerous.

| Posted on 2009-05-11 | by a guest

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poe obiously has a grate caricature of his own style, and i think he uses his corrupt childhood as a backbone

| Posted on 2009-05-08 | by a guest

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i feel this peom was written do to his sad sarrow life. he would write these peoms to releive himself fom is bad memories.

| Posted on 2009-05-06 | by a guest

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i feel this peom was written do to his sad sarrow life. he would write these peoms to releive himself fom is bad memories.

| Posted on 2009-05-06 | by a guest

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I agree with the general opinion that Poe felt alone (hence the title) and rejected when writing 'Alone', but in referal to the lines '(When the rest of Heaven was blue)Of a demon in my view' - it would be assumed that heaven was a desirable thing to see and a demon not, but the colour blue generally has connetations of depression and sorrow(admitedly as well as tranquility) - perhaps a demon would be more 'exciting', shall I say, than the rest of heaven that was blue?

| Posted on 2009-04-25 | by a guest

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Poe was truly revealing himself in this poem which is probably why it was not printed during his life. What it shows us is his true soul. He was a sad and isolated man that always felt that he was different, so much so that it kept him from acknowledging simple things as they were. His imagination was dark and twisted compared with those around him. This fact caused him to resent his imagination which is apparent in this poem. It is my favorite, by the way. I think we can all relate to this kind of sorrow. Who hasn't felt like an outcast at some point in their life?

| Posted on 2009-04-25 | by a guest

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In my opinion(Correct me if im wrong, for i am still in high school), the world around him, as portraied in this poem, is everyone else's life - by which i mean their normality and overall possative outcome. Ya know, walking away from their problems a better man?
In the beginning of the poem, When he says the line "In my childhood, in the dawn of a most stormy life", He is starting to see that not everyone's life is as depressing as his. As for the demon in his view, that can simply be his downfalls, such as alcoholism and depression.
Then again, im just a kid, and this could be 100% false. Reality is what you make of it, and that is my reality. :3

| Posted on 2009-04-20 | by a guest

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This poem is about being unusually aware of ones own mortality. The "demon in my view" is, simply, death.

| Posted on 2009-04-18 | by a guest

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I think that this poem is a very moving peace by poe. It tells of sorrow and how he could not be happy or sad he was alone and had no one to realate to. His childhood was not the same as others it was a horrible time that could of lead to the maddness when he was older.When he loved something he was alone. He than says something about a demon in his veiw which might of ment there was a crsis at the time.... :)

| Posted on 2009-04-06 | by a guest

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I think that this poem is a very moving peace by poe. It tells of sorrow and how he could not be happy or sad he was alone and had no one to realate to. His childhood was not the same as others it was a horrible time that could of lead to the maddness when he was older.When he loved something he was alone. He than says something about a demon in his veiw which might of ment there was a crsis at the time.... :)

| Posted on 2009-04-06 | by a guest

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i think hes talking about his childlife and saying that it is flying by him and that he can see maddness in the futute which he describes as a demon in the poem

| Posted on 2009-04-05 | by a guest

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I think it is interesting to consider the significance of the "Then-" that effectively divides the poem into two parts. In the beginning, he is alone and cannot be inspired or affected by the "common spring," or the social conventions and fads that capture most of society. All of a sudden, "Then-," he has the revelation of what the majority of people live for, and it is terrible. It is a shadowy-Devil in what was once a beautiful blue sky. Although he may have enjoyed his solitude without the imposing evils of the "common spring," he cannot ignore what he saw and will forever contemplate on the evils and ignorance the common human.

| Posted on 2009-03-17 | by a guest

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a lot of people are putting a negative, dark spin on this poem, and I think It's quite the opposite. He is alone in his thoughts and views the world much differently than most others. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, he may see the world in a more beautiful light than others normally see it.
he's saying that in the midst of his dark childhood "in the dawn of a most stormy life", he discovers the mysterious beauty of life. "From every depth of good and ill; The mystery which binds me still."
I think he believes he was alone in revelling in the wonder, mystery and beauty of the world. He accepts that he is alone in feeling this, but it's a beautiful way of thinking I believe, even if you're the only one who understands it.

| Posted on 2009-03-12 | by a guest

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During my four year sentence in a Geogia State Prison I aquired quite a few tattoos including a full back mural depicting the reason for my incarceration.
Included in this mural is Poe's poem, "Alone". I searched the prison library for months in search of the perfect literature to complete my tattoo and knew I had found it when I read "Alone". I have not known, until tonight, five years after receiving the peice, what the demon in the last line refered to.
I used to relate the demon to the woman in my life that assisted in my incarceration. But the demon is me just as Poe knew it was himself that was the demon.
The demon was only revealed to Poe after he opened his eyes to all of God's creation, "every depth of good and ill","the torrent,or the fountain","the red cliff of the mountain","the sun that round me rolled","the thunder and the storm, and the cloud that took the form". He opened his eyes to all this and saw he was the only thing that didn't fit. This is evident in the line, "(When the rest of Heaven was blue)". He saw that every thing in God's creation fit. It was all "blue" but himself. He was the demon in his view.
I just wonder if he ever figured out "the mystery that binds me still" was never meant for him to figure out. When the mystery is too much for you to figure out, you just let it be one of God's mysteries and then it all fits. It's called faith.

| Posted on 2009-02-28 | by a guest

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The poem Alone by Edgar Allan Poe was for me, the best example of “poems to live by,if analyze well, by the people especially the youth who had not been yet realized that being alone is not just a situation that life brought to us, it's just a precious time that we need to take in order for us to realizes that we can still be with the others and experiences what they have been experienced and what they will be going to experience. It also do belongs to the “troubled youth” that had not been discovered what make them aloof to others and separated on the usual way.
The poem tried to convinced the readers that lonesome gave parameters to joy as well as to pain. It seems that if you were along time loner happiness and sadness and even love, is just a flat thing. No difference. No depth, no weight. It seems that it's like there is no triumph on success and lost on failure. Lonesome makes our heart paralyzed, numb on the things that we were supposed to feel. But then on the sunny side of the readers, I think the poem just trying to convey us to destroys parameters and break the rules set by loneliness.

| Posted on 2009-02-25 | by a guest

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This poem was one of the best poem and best author....so, all i wanna say is thanks.

| Posted on 2009-02-03 | by a guest

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Since childhood, the raging fight between good and evil is depicted in this poem, which i feel everyone goes through in their own way. Most likely not only was it the confusion of his awkwardness, the lack to relate to society, and the hardships through life that tormented him, but it is the clich� questions of "who am I" and "why am I" that initially drove him toward his inner demons. He yearns to understand himself, to unfold the mystery of life, but I sense a lack to fully commit to having a realization or having hope, as if he fears knowing something beyond his familiarity and relation with his inner demons.

| Posted on 2009-01-27 | by a guest

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this poem is very deep it shows deep emotions of a lonely person. A person that since early childhood as had to face emotional thoughness and loniliness and this is very deep. My favorite poem of all time for sure.

| Posted on 2008-12-12 | by a guest

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I think that This is about Edgar's life and how he see's it, in the first few lines it says,
"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--."
So this makes me think that ever since he was a child he has not been like the majority he see's life differantly, like he says as others saw i could not see. He could not make his ideas like others and couldn't rise to become like the majority.
After those lines he says,
"From the same source i have not taken
My sorrow--I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tome--
And all i lov'd--I lov'd alone--"
I think that he states in these lines that he had sorrow in his life possibly from his childhood since were still on that part of his life in the poem, He could not awaken his sorrow even though others did, he didn't find the world to be happy. He did not enjoy life as we all know because of the line about his heart, it never beat faster for joy or happyness. He also didn't love very many things or many things the majority of people loved because it says on line four that he loved by himself. The next lines state.
"Then--in my childhood--in the dawn
Of a most stormy life--was drawn
From ev'ry depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still--"
This means to me, that all of a sudden when he was still young (in my childhood--in the dawn) in his dark life (line 2) he realized that his opinion of the world was not changeable, and that he realizes that his opinion is good and bad and he still doesn't understand why he has this opinion and how it came to him.
In the last few lines he describes how everyone else see's the world and how they think it is pretty. Then he says that what other people see is a heaven to him and that the A.K.A demon in his view is really just standing for something bad. He learns to except it.

| Posted on 2008-12-11 | by a guest

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A very sad poem written by someone totally alone. Someone in a dark place from where there is no escape. He realised there was no escaping his own mental prison when he said "The mystery which binds me still". He wanted to deal with it, but didn't know how.

| Posted on 2008-12-09 | by a guest

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here's some helpful info for anyone who needs it:
- The rhyme scheme is aabb, iambic quadrameter.
- The poem was written by Poe in 1829 at the age of 20.

| Posted on 2008-12-09 | by a guest

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he had hell for a childhood which drove him to being extremely introverted. the number 1 thing that people look for in life is to connect with other people, to relate in ways. he couldnt do this because things forced him to see the world differently, so much so that he didnt feel pleasure from the things that normally bring people pleasure. maybe he got pleasure from the pain,(and pain from the "pleasure") sort of like a masochist. instead of being positive he found his true self was expressed more by the darkness...and whats darker than truely being alone?

| Posted on 2008-12-05 | by a guest

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at the end of the poem it seems as though he became happy with something. maybe not his own life, but something having to do with him, because he doesn't seem as depressed as he did at the begginning of the poem. does anyone know rhyme scheme of this poem??

| Posted on 2008-12-02 | by a guest

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In this poem he specifically uses words that have no denotation, there is only the literal meaning, 'a common spring' a spring from which everyone draws their emotions from. he is also very careful to choose words that simply say what he means rather than dressing up his poem like he usually does, I think he did this to ensure that generations later the message of absolute solidarity would get across.
he is not being physically segregated or imprisoned but rather he /feels/ mental or spiritually imprisnoned, perhaps by himself in place of a judge.

| Posted on 2008-11-26 | by a guest

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he sounds like a coward he write dark to cover up the pain of being a bitch who couldnt take being outcasted by every one

| Posted on 2008-11-21 | by a guest

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I feel I can sorta see where he is coming from. In the beginning he tells how right from being born he was different. While "normal" people could get emotions from the "common" spring where everyone would have similar reactions he did get those emotions. What would be sorrow and joy he felt neither. Almost a empty void less pool of his own. And from this childhood when he says this came the stormy life it was at this point that his life in adult years would be in storms. Then the rest of the song is him describing the changing and marvels of the world just surrounding him in a way that he sees it all. So its the describing of a deep feeling of all these marvels of nature. And where you would see the heavens or happiness he still saw it dark and demonic in a personification kinda way.

| Posted on 2008-11-13 | by a guest

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this is a beautiful poem, that shows poe's honest attidude to life.

| Posted on 2008-10-23 | by a guest

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No person is truly capable of understanding any of Poe�s work in the way the way that he envisioned it, in the same sense that I don�t believe that anyone can truly understand another�s meanings. My interpretation of the poem is that edger was a person convinced he was cursed he could see the beauty in the world but was unable to relate to it in the way others appeared to do. The demon was symbolic of this mysterious disconnection. This poem wasn�t meant as some outward self expression but an inward reflection.

| Posted on 2008-10-20 | by a guest

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Edgar Allen Poe made amazing poems and this is one that just showed that perhaps his childhood life wasnt like everyone elses and that he went through such hard times and that because he went through so much stuff and there were so many deaths in this poor mans life that he felt alone through all of it. no matter how many people were there he always lost someone dear to him and that made his life harder and harder. his poems had such an amazing way of showing his emotions.

| Posted on 2008-10-08 | by a guest

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i believe that in every child there is a need to be fulfilled, and some how 'Allans' life was not of fulfillment, he was abondoned from everything, he was an orphan, he had nothing in his life, and by this his happiness started decaying from the early age, and so the whole world quite seemed to be different to him, and thus he had nothing in his life left except drinking n darkness. by james

| Posted on 2008-09-19 | by a guest

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i believe that in every child there is a need to be fulfilled, and some how 'Allans' life was not of fulfillment, he was abondoned from everything, he was an orphan, he had nothing in his life, and by this his happiness started decaying from the early age, and so the whole world quite seemed to be different to him, and thus he had nothing in his life left except drinking n darkness. by james

| Posted on 2008-09-19 | by a guest