Alone

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 —

Poetry Tale: The Poem in Someone Else’s Album

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TEXT PROVENANCE · Poe’s autograph manuscript dates to about 1829. First published in the September 1875 issue of Scribner’s Monthly as an altered facsimile with title and date added. The Poe Society’s comparative transcription distinguishes these witnesses. Existing poem wording and apostrophe styling are retained; this is not a diplomatic manuscript facsimile.

Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, comparative text: autograph manuscript (c. 1829) and Scribner’s Monthly (September 1875)

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