Edgar Allan Poe Poem Reflection

I read the poem called "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe. When I read it through the first time I didn't exactly understand it completely but I could tell it was sad. I then went through the story a second time dissecting it line by line. The first four lines talk about his childhood. It says how he was not like the other children in any way. He did not find any happiness in the thing that brought happiness to other children. His passions were not like theirs and didn't come from the same place as theirs did. (Poe 1-4) This is a symbolism of dark romanticism because it displays how dark the truth of a man is. One idea of dark romanticism is just that, that every man has a true deep side inside of him. In the poem "Alone" it is shown when he talks about "And all I lov'd -- I lov'd alone --" (Poe 8) that he felt a dark sadness inside him. He felt that he was alone in the world and enjoyed things alone, ultimately making him confused. That then leads into another characteristic of mystery being displayed in dark romanticism writing style. "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 -- " (Poe 9-12) This quote shows how his life was full of mystery and questions that he did no understand himself. He began the quote by talking about how his life from the beginning was a "storm", meaning it was a mess and would continue to be just that. This life he believed was brought on by all things good and bad, which was most confusing because how can something bad come out of good. The idea of bad coming from bad makes sense, obviously, but bad from good was something neither he nor many ever understand. His display of questioning this is just much more intense and dramatic than most peoples. This is an example of another romanticism characteristic of that over-dramatic-detailed style. Poe then went on to talk about things that should be considered beautiful and good to look at such as”autumn tint of gold --; From the lightning in the sky” (Poe 17-18) “And the cloud that took the form; (When the rest of Heaven was blue)” (Poe 18-19). There is almost a sense of happiness regained when he talks about these things. Still he then does add things that keep the dark romanticism style but those happy things just went against all romanticism style things. The very last line he threw all non- dark romanticism ideas out the window when he wrote “Of a demon in my view –“. (Poe 22) Which was right after he wrote about the heavens sky as I quoted above, showing how although there is beauty everywhere around him, he could not see it. All he could see was the bad in things and the bad in the life around him. This is a very cynical view of life, which is also a largely used characteristic of dark romanticism. Obviously Poe is a picture perfect, although he would probably not want to be thought of that way, idea of how dark romanticism should and was written.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "Alone." The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore. LFC Hosting, 5 Aug. 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. .