Line By Line Explanation of Poem "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe

Line By Line Explanation of Poem "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe:

Overview And Theme:

The Poem "Alone" was written by Edgar Allan Poe and was published in the year 1875. The Poem consists of 22 lines written in couplets. The Poem is written in a dark and solemn tone and comprises strong sentiments, solitude, and loneliness that most young and teens feel when their loved ones leave them. The Poem silently gives us a message about how to live alone. The Poem is also about the lonely poet whose perception of the world is much different from others.

Explanation:

From Childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen!

The poem starts with the lines in which the poet says that- From the age of their childhood, he feels different from others. He saw differently from others. His perception was different in context from all the things that an average person sees. The poet wants to convince that he used to found an abnormality in all those things that are standard for others.

As others saw; I could not bring;
My passions from a common spring!

In the following lines, the poet tells us that he was not passionate about ordinary things. He has not developed their passion just by seeing others. The poet has affections in different things.

From the same source; I have not taken!
My sorrow; I could not awaken!

In these lines, the poet says that- His sorrow is different from others; he was not sad by everyday problems; his problem was something different. His sorrow was deep and unique from others.

My heart to joy at the same tone:
And all I loved, I loved alone.

Again comparing his views with others, the poet says that although he listens to the same tone/music as others, he does not feel like others. No strike of sound knocks his soul. He senses the music in a very different way. Since the poet has different views, he has different opinions, and as he loves to live in solitude, he is happy with his loneliness. He says that he knows the method to live alone in subsequent lines, and he finds himself happy in solitude.

Then, In my childhood, in the dawn,
Of a most stormy life- was drawn;

In these lines going back to childhood, the poet says that the stormiest life had just begun in the childish age when he was growing. These days changed his life completely. Probably here, the poet is referring to stormy days to the days when his parents died. The death of his parents has changed him completely. From the age of childhood, the poet's life complete was with troubles and upheavals.

From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:

The early life of the poet was full of goodness and evilness. And now the poet finds himself still after thinking about the cause which caused the development of a different person in the poet. From childhood, the poet has tasted both good and evil, but he still does not know the reason for; his different perception than others.

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.

In the following lines, he says that while others cherish, enjoy, and love the beautiful torrents, they enjoy beautiful water streams and love to see the mountain, but the poet does not feel the same for these things. Silence and solitude always surround him. The sun, which revolves around us and its goldish autumn tint adorn the roads and woods, does not circulate any joy in the poet. The fascinating thunder and the storm, which attracts the view of observers and the curly clouds in the clean blue sky which grace the sky, does not catch any attraction from the poet besides these all are like demons in his view.

Basically, by using words like torrents, fountains, sun, autumn and clouds, the poet conveys that he sees things differently in all the five elements of the earth- Land, fire, water, wind and sky. These things are like demons that remind the poet about his loneliness and solitude. Here the poet also wants to convey that the world does not fit him, and he also does not suit it.

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