Alone

This week I will start interpreting Edgar Alan Poe's works. The first one I would like to begin with is a poem written in his childhood called Alone. This poem has a lot of hidden messages so I will talk about its meaning. Keep in mind that this is my interpretation meaning anyone could have a completely different opinion about the symbolism of this poem. Here is a link: Alone by Edgar Allan Poe


Firstly, I feel as if this poem was directly related to Poe's childhood. Although some of his Gothic stories about murders may not be about him, this one could easily be linked to his life as a youth. "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..." These first few lines of Poe's poem demonstrate his feelings toward his peers. He claims to be different than everyone else the very first line. He proceeds by explaining how he doesn't see things the same way as others see them and he can't seem to find common passions with the other kids. This makes him feel excluded and alienated due to his differences. He seems to be more of an awkward child that doesn't fit in with anyone.

"...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..." This part of the poem continues by demonstrating that Poe could not feel the same things as those surrounding him. When they are sad, he does not understand why. When they feel happy, he can't seem to feel the same joy. He is very different and the things that he likes aren't things that the other children like so he feels very 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:..." This represents the trigger in his life. It is describing an event which changed his life forever, which ends up being the beginning of a dark, "stormy life". It still affects him and "binds" him, not allowing an escape from this constant darkness and sorrow. This trigger, in my opinion, would be when his mother died. Although he was too young at the time to understand, he could look back at it when he wrote this poem realizing how much better off he would've been with his real mother. He comes to realization that his father had ditched their family so Poe feels a strong sense of abandonment.

"...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..." Here, Edgar describes the happy things in life. In my opinion, the image he creates here is absolutely beautiful. He is describing the natural beauties in life. At the same time when he describes "the sun that round me roll'd" it could represent his life just passing by in a blur. He is no longer keeping track of the days because he can't bring himself to care any longer. His childhood is rolling by.  

"...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..." This part of "Alone" contradicts the wonderful things he described in the previous verse. He is portrays the darkness of a storm. It could be an example of all the chaos going on at the moment, with the lightning and the thunder and the overwhelmingly, numerous feelings and thoughts that are running through his head. These two parts together show that although he sees the nice things in life that make others happy, they do not affect him because they are hidden by a dark rain cloud representing his thoughts that are constantly in a chaotic cluster. His feelings are comparable to the dark, dismal mood of a storm. 

"...(When the rest of Heaven was blue) of a demon in my view."  In this final verse, Poe describes the dark storm cloud in the shape of a demon. He says that "the rest of Heaven was blue" meaning the rest of the world was happy, beautiful and amazing like he described earlier. On the other hand, this "demon" was blocking his sight and how he saw the world. Although he knows there are good things surrounding him there is an obstacle preventing him from being happy. This obstacle could be, like I mentioned before, his mixed up feelings about the loneliness he feels and the loss and abandonment due to the death of his mother. Another twist on the demon image could be his foster father. I did not go into great detail about his childhood life in the biography, but it was thought that Edgar's foster dad abused him physically and mentally. (What influenced Edgar Allan Poe's works?) This means that he could have used the demon as an image representing the conflict and abuse he dealt with at home because of his foster dad. In conclusion, this poem could very possibly represent Edgar Allan Poe's childhood because of the similar comparisons between his tragedies, his feelings and his conflicts.     

Ideas used from grade ten English class oral discussion  

Literary devices

Edgar Allan Poe was a literary genius due to his effective use of literary elements in his many Gothic short stories and poems. Firstly, what is a literary element? A literary element or device is a characteristic used by an author to enhance his writing. There are many examples of these, however I will only address the main ones I will be using while interpreting Poe's works.

First off, there is the alliteration. This is when the author repeats the same letters, sounds or words in the same sentence. For example, in The Bells, "To the swinging and the ringing of the bells, bells, bells, of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells", where the word bells is repeated allowing the reader to almost hear the bells themselves.  Next up is the simile. This is used when the author is trying to compare two things and in order to do so he uses the word like or as in between them. An example of a simile would be in The Fall of the House of Usher when the narrator says the house had, "...vacant eye-like window..." Here Poe compares the windows of the house to vacant eyes with the use of the word like.

A similar literary element often confused with the simile is the metaphor. This also consists of a comparison however it must be a comparison without the words like or as. In The Black Cat, Poe writes, "The fury of a demon instantly possessed me." This would be an example of a metaphor comparing the man's anger to that of a demons. A personification is when the author gives a human attribute to an inanimate object. This would be like in The Tell-Tale Heart, "...for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye." Here Poe is calling the eye evil but an eye cannot be evil. The personification is used very often in Poe's works because this is one of his favourite ways to bring the story and the things in his story to life.

Another literary device used by Poe is foreshadowing. He will sometimes put emphasis on a certain part of a story so one can infer what might happen in the end. For example, in The Masque of the Red Death, there is a lot of emphasis put on the red chamber and how nobody wants to go into it. This could foreshadow that they will eventually be forced into it. He also uses irony very effectively in his works to lighten up the mood a bit or to teach a lesson or moral. For example, in The Cask of Amontillado, the main character leads his friend Fortunato to find some Amontillado in a vault underground. Fortunato, unlike his name, is unfortunate and is murdered by his friend. The main literary element that makes Edgar Allan Poe such a successful Gothic literature author is his use of imagery. Imagery is the description of the five senses in any given situation. Poe effectively describes these senses in all his works allowing the reader to smell, taste, hear, touch, and see what the characters do, therefore attaching the readers to their characters.

Other literary devices less frequently used in Poe's stories and poems are the hyperbole, the onomatopoeia and the flashback. The hyperbole is an exaggeration for example in The Narrative of A. Gordan Pym, it is said "I felt, I am sure, more than ten thousand times the agonies of death itself." This is an exaggeration of the pain the narrator felt. Onomatopoeia is a sound that imitates the word like in The Pit and the Pendulum: "It was appended to a weighty rod of brass, and the whole hissed as it swung through the air." Here one can hear the hissing sound of the pendulum as it swings to and fro. Finally the flashback is when a character is thinking back on a past event, and describes what happens to give the reader further intelligence as to why certain things happen the way they do in the present day. For example, in The Raven: "Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December..." the author is thinking back on when the event occurred. Due to the use of these many literary elements in Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poems, he can effectively make the reader feel any way he wants them to feel.

Edgar Allan Poe's Biography

Edgar Allan Poe was a literary god in his time as well as now. He wrote many gothic short stories and poems which caught the attention of numerous readers. Poe was born January 19th in Boston in 1809. He had one sister Rosalie and a brother, Henry. Their parents had separated and the children were living with their mother until she died in 1811. Henry was fortunate enough to go off to live with his grandparents while Rosalie and Edgar went up for adoption.


Poe's adoptive family had a good deal of money and therefore sent him to good schools where he got a quality education. Edgar even went across seas to learn Latin and French when he was six, which he excelled in when he went to university in 1826. No more than a year later he started drinking and ended up in debt forcing him to quit the University of Virginia. His foster dad disowned him and without any education, money or job history Poe had no choice but to move to Boston to join the army. There he excelled and became sergeant major.

A couple years later his foster mother died so his foster dad, having no one left, reached out to him offering to pay to send him to West Point. Once there however, Poe's foster dad cut him off and eventually, due to misbehaviour, Poe was dismissed. Without any financial help, friends, and job, Poe moved to New York to publish some of his stories. He had no luck for the longest time until he won a contest with his story "The Manuscript Found in a Bottle".

He became an editor of a newspaper and eventually brought his extended family (his actual aunt and cousin) to live in New York with him. Edgar, 27 years old, married his 13 year old cousin Virginia. For years Poe moved from paper to paper trying to get more of his stories to sell. He even tried starting his own paper but that failed. In 1847, Virginia died and Poe was deeply distraught. He regained his physical health later that year however his mental health was still questionable. He was an alcoholic, moving from New York to Philidalphea to Richmond trying to find a steady job with high income. He went to leave Richmond to go back to New York however took the wrong train and was found in Baltimore where he was taken to the hospital due to his constant lapses in and out of consciousness. He died in the hospital October 7th, 1849 from unknown causes. The mystery of Poe's death is another aspect which draws readers to his many gruesome short stories and poems. (poestories.com)