Edgar Allan Poe wrote "Alone" in 1829, shortly after the death of his foster mother, Frances Allan. The poem was not titled or published in Poe's lifetime, but was discovered after his death and published posthumously in 1875. In this autobiographical poem, a speaker describes his lifelong feelings of loneliness, isolation, and difference. His intense imaginative life, he writes, is a curse, forever setting him apart from other people. But it's also a blessing, the source of his visionary power.
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The Full Text of “Alone”
1From childhood’s hour I have not been
2As others were—I have not seen
3As others saw—I could not bring
4My passions from a common spring—
5From the same source I have not taken
6My sorrow—I could not awaken
7My heart to joy at the same tone—
8And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
9Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
10Of a most stormy life—was drawn
11From ev’ry depth of good and ill
12The mystery which binds me still—
13From the torrent, or the fountain—
14From the red cliff of the mountain—
15From the sun that ’round me roll’d
16In its autumn tint of gold—
17From the lightning in the sky
18As it pass’d me flying by—
19From the thunder, and the storm—
20And the cloud that took the form
21(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
22Of a demon in my view—
The Full Text of “Alone”
1From childhood’s hour I have not been
2As others were—I have not seen
3As others saw—I could not bring
4My passions from a common spring—
5From the same source I have not taken
6My sorrow—I could not awaken
7My heart to joy at the same tone—
8And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
9Then—in my childhood—in the dawn
10Of a most stormy life—was drawn
11From ev’ry depth of good and ill
12The mystery which binds me still—
13From the torrent, or the fountain—
14From the red cliff of the mountain—
15From the sun that ’round me roll’d
16In its autumn tint of gold—
17From the lightning in the sky
18As it pass’d me flying by—
19From the thunder, and the storm—
20And the cloud that took the form
21(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
22Of a demon in my view—
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“Alone” Summary
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“Alone” Themes
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Loneliness, Isolation, and Difference
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Alone”
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Lines 1-4
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— -
Lines 5-7
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow—I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone— -
Line 8
And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone—
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Lines 9-12
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— -
Lines 13-16
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— -
Lines 17-19
From the lightning in the sky
As it pass’d me flying by—
From the thunder, and the storm— -
Lines 20-22
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view—
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“Alone” Symbols
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The Demon
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“Alone” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Parallelism
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Anaphora
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Anadiplosis
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Enjambment
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Consonance
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Imagery
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Metaphor
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Caesura
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“Alone” Vocabulary
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- Childhood's Hour
- Passions
- Common Spring
- Good and Ill
- Torrent
- Demon
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Alone”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Alone” Speaker
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“Alone” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Alone”
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More “Alone” Resources
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External Resources
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Publication History — Read about the publication history of the poem, from its first appearance to the present day.
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The Poem Aloud — Hear the poem read aloud by the actor Basil Rathbone.
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Biography and Poems — Read a biography of Poe at the Poetry Foundation, and find links to more of his work.
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The Poe Museum — Learn more about Poe's life, times, and works at the website of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
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