Alone Lyrics
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
“Alone,” published in Scribner’s Magazine in September of 1875 (twenty-six years after Poe’s death), is usually considered to be autobiographical of its author, highlighting the isolation and inner torment of the speaker.
Though published after his death, the poem is widely accepted to be an early Poe poem, and it was named “Alone” by Eugene L. Didier, who found it written in an autograph album belonging to the wife of Judge Balderston, former Chief Judge of the Orphan’s Court in Baltimore. The date of its composition is unknown, but it was labeled in Didier’s handwriting with “Baltimore, March 17, 1829.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
The speaker contrasts his own sorrow to the way others around him feel. He means that he does not take his sorrow from the same spring (of water) from which others take their seemingly happier, brighter emotions.
