Alone

Edgar Allan Poe, 1809 - 1849

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--
 Dark personalities, stormy backgrounds

In the first years of the human being life, it is carried out the process of the character creation ,

and this one is linked to the temperament, the education, and the training, giving as a final result

the personality. “Alone” is a short poem written by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-

1849), it was composed in 1829 and was published in 1875, exactly twenty six years after the

death of its author. This poem belongs to the gothic literature; in its lines, it is denoted darkness

and a mixture of negative feelings, such as: anger, sadness, and depression. Its verses express a

desolate epoch in the life of a younger person.

In the poem, it is reflected how specific experiences at early ages define the character of the

person. Depending on the nature of the experiences (positive or negative), it could be originated a

mental disorder or these experiences could simply become good memories. In the next text, it will

be explained the personality creation process and how the different experiences during the

childhood play a fundamental role in the construction of it.

The term character is commonly associated to or confused with the temperament, but there is

a notable difference. On the one hand, the character is compounded by a heap of characteristics

that establish an own way of behavior; in other words the character of a person summarizes the

way this one reacts, and it is acquired from the different individual experiences, that the human

being has in their first years of existence. It is not something that can be produced by the human

body; this is based on the interaction. On the other hand, the temperament is the set of

sensations, thoughts and impulses that mold the personality, and they do not have a logical

explanation; namely, it is related to a purely organic basing, it is determined by the genetic charge,

and makes us in a specific way. It does not exist, either in the brain or in any other part of our
nervous system, a structure that produces the individual character, contrary to the temperament

which is the result of nervous and endocrine activities that the individual does not control

consciously. People with furious temperament are incapable of controlling themselves in a

stressed situation, without mattering either their values or education. Contrary to this, a person

with strong character is able to control themselves and their reactions. Many factors interfere in

the construction of the human carácter. The character is forged with experience, the interactions

that take place during the vital development, and with the different spiritual wounds or traumatic

events during the childhood. These factors deeply set the future evolution, both in a positive or

negative way, according to the occurred events. Children are as sponges due to the ease that they

have to memorize and imitate some behaviors that have been seen in their surroundings, and it is

proven by studies that many features of the adult behavior are influenced by situations lived

during childhood. These human behavior features are more perceptible in those situations in

which there has been lived traumatic circumstances in the first years of life. All of these bad

experiences regulate the brain in a sort of defense mode, which makes those people distort their

perceptions, regulate their emotions in a wrong way, and react improperly toward meaningless

things; and furthermore, they originate wounds in the soul which are unsolved conflicts that mark

a person life, and become huge obstacles that inhibit their development; the five most common

soul wounds are the rejection, abandonment, humiliation, treason and injustice.

Fateful or extraordinarly, each human being is molded holistically by their own neophyte world;

we could say that every poet reflects a piece of its soul in their works. “Alone” transports us to the

life of a youth with pronounced characteristics that strongly differenced him from the common,

these differences are related to the psychological field; he has a different way of thinking, and a

different reality perception (he probably does not share with others his vision of what surrounds
him, since surely his acquaintances would not understand or accept him) in “Alone”, Edgar Allan

Poe expresses in the first lines of his poem “From childhood’s hour I have not been

as others were, I have not seen as others saw.” That perculiar reality perception turns him into a

lonely person, separated from society and clearly individualistic; furthermore it is portrayed a

person resentful, and nonconformist with his childhood which was frustrated and deprived of its

innocence, happiness, love, turning him into a imperceptible, sad, shy and self-sufficient person.

In “Alone” it is dismantled a youth absorbed in himself and lost from the environment, that

fragilely turns over toward the life hard proofs; degenerating in an armored, gothic and even

mystic and sensitive maturity, that intertwines questions without responses, blocked streets and a

broken soul whose shine and purity were not appreciated; a soul which was always persecuted by

his unknown background, which tormented him even in his peculiar and exclusive happiness

times, forcing these experiences to hide with gold color ink, his autumns of discouragement and

depression.

Artists turn bad experiences, and tragedy, into beauty, and also use the feeling produced by

those experiences, to their own profit, becoming their art works, a mid to express their fears and

insecurities. Going back to Edgar Allan Poe chlidhood, it is appreciated: significative losses in his

life, rejection by close people to him side, economical vicissitudes and his tragic and early death;

related to the narcotic substances overuse or suicide; what leads to conjeture that., the poem

writer capturedin his work more than just his imagination width; but he wrote and described in

this poem his chilhood, his character and feelings; character resulted from his tough experiences,

which could mean the reason why his Works are dark; and also that “Alone” never was published

during Edgar Allan Poe living years.

 The human being mind is so vulnerable, thus, it is easily affected by the different life

experiences during their childhood, which determine the future character of the individual and

possibly set their life and perception of things. ”Alone,” in spite of being a short poem, is

composed by lines that have deep meaning, are full of mystery, transmit feelings and allow us to

move the senses with its thorough descriptions, and puts in perspective the intrinsic meaning of

what living and experimenting is, calling our attention regarding to the ulteriority of our moments,

how these have defined our identity and our setting as individuals, and at the same time, part of

an everything. It also makes us ask ourselves who we really are. “Alone,” a few sentences that

holistically leave a mark, and transform our perception of real experiences of feeling and living.

Edward José Hidalgo García

Fundaidiomas English, level 5