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May 13th, 2008 - we have 237 poets, 8036 poems and 17458 comments.
Edgar Allan Poe - 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.

Added: on January 30th, 2007 at 4:35 AM | Viewed: 25298 times | Comments and analysis of Alone by Edgar Allan Poe Comments (41)


Alone - Comments and Information

Poet: Edgar Allan Poe
Poem: Alone

Comment 41 of 41, added on March 8th, 2008 at 4:59 PM.

I disagree that the second half of the poem is off track. I think it's fairly obvious that in the first half the narrator considers himself unique and emotionally different than his peers. But the realization he has at the end...delivered beautifully in the last two lines...is that he is not merely different, but possibly evil. The mystery of his life will be wrestling with this demon on the horizon that presumably will get closer and closer.

Adam from United States
Comment 40 of 41, added on February 20th, 2008 at 8:04 PM.

This poem could not be about the death of Poe's wife because she died after he wrote it nor is the poem about him being different. It is a general narrator meaning it could be anyone. The message that the poem is trying to get across is that when you realize you are different that seems to be all you can see(the demon) and you never seem to pay attention to the beautiful things.

Ryan from Canada
Comment 39 of 41, added on January 30th, 2007 at 4:35 AM.

The first 8 lines are wonderful--real, sincere, vivid. Then he tried to make it better and ruined it. The lesson is "less is more."

bb from United States

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