“Alone”
By Edgar Allen Poe
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 lov’d—I lov’d alone—
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—
From the torrent, or the fountain—
From the red cliff of the mountain—
From the sun that ’round me roll’d
In its autumn tint of gold—
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass’d 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—
About the Poem
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) wrote ‘Alone’ when he was still very young – he was just 21-years old. The poem remained unpublished until 1875, which was more than a quarter of a century after his death. The sentiment is one many of us can relate to from our teenage years and youth: feeling alone, believing we do not fit in with the world around us. We feel alone and different from everyone else, not realizing that this very feeling is one we all have in common.
About the Poet
Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. He is best known for his poetry and short stories, especially his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of overall American literature. Poe was one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story. He is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, and is credited with contributing to the emergence of science fiction. Poe was the first well-known American writer to earn a living only through writing; He had a financially difficult life and career.
Poe’s best-known works include the poems “To Helen” (1831), “The Raven” (1845), and “Annabel Lee” (1849); the short stories of wickedness and crime “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846); and the supernatural horror story “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839).