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Terance Taylor
Professor Whitton
English 102
07 November 2006
Alone
Everyone at some point has feelings of being alone or different from everyone
else. These feelings, as much as they might hurt, are a part of life. These feelings are
shown and expressed by Edgar Allen Poe in his poem “Alone.” This poem is a shining
example of how people’s feelings are not derived from one source and how there is
always something that is unique or stands out of the crowd.
Poe starts off the poem pointing out how his sources of entertainment, happiness,
and sadness do not come from the same place that they do for most people (1-6). The
alienating feeling that is caused from this uniqueness, like one red apple sitting in a
basket of oranges, can bring sorrow or awkwardness. This awkwardness and feeling of
solitude tends to lead us to try to conform. Such conformity, though, will not bring
happiness to the individual. They will be busy doing other things they do not like just to
be a part of the crowd. The question is would you rather be alone and do what you enjoy
or fit in with the crowd doing something you do not enjoy?
As the poem continues, Poe states that “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” (9-12). This statement hints that when he was young, something happened which
still haunts him. This is an event that happens in many other people’s lives. At some
point there is something that makes a major impact on the person’s future. This effect
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may be realized when the event happens, but will present itself later on, after reflection or
more wisdom.
The end of the poem goes on to describe the various aspects of nature. These
aspects can be related to different human feelings (13-20).
Poe is pointing out that no
matter what kind of feelings are going on inside, there will always be that one weakness.
This weakness is the one that stands out when the others are less apparent. Human’s
have a natural flaw in that they manifest some form of a self-inflicted battle that they
must endure during their life or overcome. This is shown by Poe with, “(When the rest of
Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view” (21-22).
There might be some different interpretation of what Poe’s desired meaning is
towards the end of this poem. In “Introduction To Poetry,” the author states that poems
are not meant to be heavily analyzed and instead are meant to be just taken as face value
(Collins). This is true that some author’s do write with the intent for it to mean exactly
what it says. This does not seem to be the case though in “Alone.” The poem “Poetry”
points out how authors might tend to be overly selective in their choice of words and end
up blurring their desired meaning (Moore). Poe did an excellent job in getting the perfect
mixture of poetic word choice without completely twisting his intended meaning.
The poem “Alone” is an excellent poem by Edgar Allen Poe. It has a wonderful
choice of words that helps to illustrate the scene to the intended reader. This makes
apparent the situation where a bad flaw stands out and the individual seems alone or
where a person does something that makes them stand out causing them to become more
of an outcast of a group.
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Works Cited
Collins, Billy. “Introduction To Poetry.” PoemHunter.com. 31 October
2006. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/introduction-to-poetry/ >
Moore, Marianne. “Poetry.” PoemHunter.com. 31 October
2006. <http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/poetry/ >
Poe, Edgar Allen. “Alone.” PoemHunter.com 31 October 2006.
<http://www.pambytes.com/poe/poems/alone.html>
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