The poem “Alone” by Edgar Allen Poe is roughly based off Poe’s personal life. Poe centers on the idea of not fitting in, being out-casted by those who consider him different.
His poem is saddening, speaking of the light of the world that he cannot see, for it is blocked out by the darkness the world possesses.

I like this poem because I feel like I can share the feelings. I know what it feels like to be alone most of the time, and I believe that he did too throughout most of his childhood. Although my parents are not dead, as were his, I still feel that my feelings about the notion of being alone are similar to those he expresses in the poem.
I feel that my favorite line of the poem is “And all I lov’d—I lov’d alone” (Poe 8). This has become my favorite line of the poem because it’s such a painful concept. Love is something that is to be felt with others. The simple fact that he felt love, alone, is enough to make a grown man cry. There is no reason to smile with this line, and perhaps that is why I love it so. A poem about being alone is to capture no happiness, but sadness, and sympathy for the author’s pain. I believe that is exactly what Poe, this poetic genius as he is, did.

The purpose of this poem is hard to decipher. Is it to persuade the reader to feel sorrow for this man? Is it for the reader to relate? Or just to understand? Is it for the reader to realize what he/she has, and be grateful? What is the real reason Poe has written this work of literary art? I feel the need to believe that Poe has written this poem to show the reader his pain, for the reader to comprehend and feel what he’s felt all the years of his life. To visualize the pain and depression he had to go through. I think that Poe wants his reader to say, “Wow, for a boy with such a traumatic life, he sure made good of it”. He made his life beautiful in a depressing way. With words, his horrible life is filled with beauty. His tears sparkle like wonderful crystals in the light of his pain.

There are three literary devices within this poem that I’ve seen. One of which is Metaphors. “Of a most stormy life…” (Poe 10) contains a metaphor. Comparing life to a storm is a splendid metaphor indeed. For a man like him, what better a way to describe his life, than a raging storm? Another of the three is personification. “The mystery which binds me still” (Poe 12) throws out a hint of personification. The mystery binds him. Does mystery literally take out a rope and bind him to a chair? No, but it limits him. This use of personification gives the piece its life and characteristic. The last of the three is Imagery. “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” (Poe 13-22) shows quite well the loveliness that he himself is missing, due to the darkness of the demon in his view. It shows the wonder of the world, and then by simply adding something dark like a demon to carve it out of his life, it is then that we feel the greatest sorrow; because we realize this beauty will never be seen by his oh-so-desiring eyes. It is a shame, because life is beautiful. When darkness blots it out, it makes even the bravest men shed tears like children.