Edgar Allen Poe Alone

The frequent shift of a dark, somber tone to a defeated, accepting tone in Edgar Allen Poe’s “Alone” asserts the overall meaning that one’s acceptance of their own personality, different or similar to people around them, ultimately results in their seclusion. At the start of the poem, the narrator declares his childhood isolation through an ominous tone as he affirms his dark feeling of loneliness when he compares himself to the children around him. He is an outcast, an outlier; “all [he] lov’d—[he] lov’d alone”(8). The repetition of “I” and “alone” and the stress of the letter “l” affirm his overall despair and frustration towards his different views of the world. No matter how hard he tries to perceive the world around him in the same manner as the other children; he cannot as he repeats phrases such as “could not” and “ have not,” which amplifies his solemn
feelings towards loneliness (2-3).
Moreover, the tone fluctuates to a muddled self-accepting tone as the narrator begins to question whether his loneliness is a benefit or a burden. Poe compares his loneliness to nature’s contrasting aspects such as a “the torrent, or the fountain” (13-14). While a fountain associates a peaceful image, a torrent connotes destruction, which amplifies the narrator’s confusion of his abnormalities. Moreover, he then compares the loneliness to “the red cliff of the mountain,” which connotes a much more peaceful meaning than that of a “torrent” or “sorrow” as he slowly learns that solitude is not necessarily a sorrowful state. The destructive yet serene portrayal of nature connotes the confusion between being alone and being lonely as it is “the mystery that binds him still” (12). It is not the dark feeling or the loneliness that “binds” the narrator; it is instead his consistent indecisiveness towards his solitude that “binds” him. Consequently, the tone changes once more from a disarrayed to an asserting state as the narrator grows to realize that the acceptance of his true self is the reason for his
isolation. The narrator declares his abnormalities as he compares his views to a “storm” and “thunder” which constructs a strong, self-assuring tone as nature, like his uniqueness cannot be changed (19-20). Furthermore, Poe refers to his isolation as a “demon” which blocks him from “the Heavens.” “The Heavens” refers to the world outside him, but he does not join it as he cannot escape from his true identity (21-22). Society may still alienate the narrator, but he can now live in peace as he finally accepts his different views and solitude.