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.
Alone
Edgar Allan Poe
Theme:
Edgar Allan Poe is known as the man who is mostly 'remarkably incapable of analysis'.
Original manuscript of a revision of "Spirits of t...
1848 Daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe at 39, a yea...
Edgar Allan Poe Museum (Richmond, Virginia)His poems are dark and brooding, and reflect his gloomy life.
The obvious theme in this poem is difference. Poe is saying in a descriptive way that he never really fit in, ( as most of his poems and stories are a reflection of either his own life or are imaginary yet influenced by something deep in his creative yet depressive mind) and pretty much the whole first half of the poem is dedicated to proving he was 'alone'.
When saying 'I could not bring my passions from a common spring', and 'All that I loved, I loved alone', he is portraying a picture of melancholy isolation, a childhood ripped bare, not enjoying the joys that other children received. But he wasn't going to configure himself to abide by what other children's interests...