Poem: Alone

This is a very important poem to me, and I hope it can be so to you too. Edgar Allan Poe knew better than most just how alone one can truly be, as he was ridiculed and mocked for his storytelling by those who didn't grasp it for the treasure it was. Throughout his life, he knew what it was to be misunderstood, neglected, and betrayed. We can very easily feel alone in this world and like no one knows us, what we're dealing with or how we feel. But YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

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Episode music and narration by Tynan Portillo.

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Intro music by Emmett Cooke on PremiumBeat.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:32 Poem
• 2:20 Aftertalk
• 6:33 Farewell

Transcript

Tynan Portillo presents, featuring the works of Edgar Allan Poe and the best horror stories from the 19th century. Welcome to The Poe Show podcast. Music and narration by Tynan Portillo.

Today’s episode, Alone by Edgar Allan Poe.

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—

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.

Hello and welcome back to The Poe Show, I’m your host Tynan Portillo. There’s a lot going on in the world and many of us can feel like we are alone. My goal in featuring this poem is that you understand that you aren’t alone. Others are feeling what you feel and your experience is met with compassion and empathy.

Alone was written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1829, when he was 20 years old. However, this poem had no title and was never published during Edgar Allan Poe’s lifetime. It was published in Sribner’s Monthly in 1875, and it could be that it was just too personal for Poe to want the public to read. In February of 1829 Poe’s foster mother, Frances Allen, had died from tuberculosis. Poe wrote this poem and dated it in March of 1829. Poe historians and poets alike would agree that this poem, therefore, could be considered more of a journal entry rather than a piece of work that Poe wanted to publish to the world.

This poem expresses that even as a child, Poe felt estranged from the world about him. This was surely amplified as he joined the Army under a genius alias “Edgar A. Perry,” and spent 5 years in an institution which is known for crushing independent thought and the expression of the human spirit. The Army is all about conformity and discipline, whereas Poe was a free spirit who loved to rebel. And through this poem Poe describes the world around him as storms, mountains and even demons in the clouds of Heaven. And “the mystery which binds him still” is…why? Why am I so alone? Why am I so different? Why can’t I be like everyone else and draw the same sense of belonging from the fountains and the mountains, the lightning and the clouds? Why is the cloud from Heaven forming a demon in my view? This meets the often pessimistic nature that Poe took to life, frequently expressing ideas of determinism and a lack of control over one’s life. And the poem ends there, quite abruptly. He didn’t have an answer to why he was so different from everyone else. I hope that ultimately he saw it as a good thing though. I sure do. I appreciate that he lived his life as himself.

Just as Loneliness by Katherine Mansfield expresses the desire for companionship we can feel in our lives, so too does Alone by Edgar Allan Poe express the isolation we can feel in finding someone who will stand with us. But, hopefully, these poems demonstrate that those feelings of loneliness and being alone are a part of the human experience. We all feel that. We all know that. And we all can help each other deal with that. We can bear it all, together.

If you enjoy the poetry and horror stories of Edgar Allan Poe then be sure to follow and subscribe, give this podcast a 5 star rating and share it with your family and friends. If you’d like to suggest any future stories or poems from the 19th century, send a text message to the podcast using the link in the description. You can also ask any questions and I’ll answer them in an episode. Be sure to follow this podcast on TikTok @poeshowpodcast and on Instagram @thepoeshowpodcast, as well as on Bluesky @thepoeshowpodcast.bsky.social. You can support the show by clicking the link in the description and soon get behind the scenes content on The Poe Show Kofi profile.

That’s all for now, but you’ll hear from me again on the next episode of The Poe Show podcast.