Edgar Allan Poe- Alone

If you could not tell from the title of the blog, this blog is centered around the poem "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe. This poems seems to be saying how he isn't the same as most people emotionally. He is more depressed/he thinks in a darker way and has since he was a young boy("From childhood's hour I have not been/As others were -- I have not seen/As others saw"). He feels different and, dare I say, alone.
This poem does feature many aspects of the Dark Romanticism time. First off, it is depressing. I mean I love being alone, and I'm sure Poe did too, but this poem I feel is not the type of alone that he loved. I think that it was the kind of alone where you feel hopeless and just want someone to have the same opinions and emotions as you. This poem also brings up sorrow ("From the same source I have not taken/ My sorrow"). Poe mentions mystery in this as well ("The mystery which binds me still") and mystery is used in Dark Romanticism a lot. Usually, it is used in a different way, like in a story that you don't know what's going to happen next in, as opposed to just blatantly saying that something is a "mystery", but it is still used in here. He mentions a demon in this poem. This shows the supernatural type of element that is found in the Dark/Gothic Romanticism writing period (Quinn, gothic).
"Alone" also features general aspects that appears in most literature in the Romanticism period. Nature appears in multiple parts of this poem, which we should all know by now, is a pretty big part of Romanticism. He mentions "a common spring", a "fountain", "red cliff of the mountain", "autumn tint of gold", and he brings up storms, thunder, lighting. It is just filled with references to nature.


Quinn, Edward. "gothic literature." A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= Gfflithem0359&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 18, 2012).

http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp