Pic of the day #15

Intro to Poetry

1. The poem is "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe. The significance of the title is that he feels alone and isolated from those around him.

2. The poem has a very somber tone.

3. My mood as I read it was sad and thoughtful and I was in awe.

4. The shift starts at "Then..." when he shifts from describing in what context he felt alone to describing the cloud that hung over his head because of it.

5. The theme of the poem is isolation and the effects of being different.

Poe vs. Frost

In the poem “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe, the author talks about being different and feeling isolated from those around him. Although Robert Frost does feel a sense of isolation in his poem “Birches”, it isn’t isolation from society, it’s isolation from himself. Frost demonstrates this with his nostalgic tone and child-like imagery, while Poe achieves his feeling of isolation through his somber tone and moody diction.

In Poe’s poem he feels isolated and different from the people around him. This causes him to have a somber tone, which is seen when he says “From the same source I have not taken my sorrow.” When Poe says he doesn’t take his feelings from the same place as everyone else, it has a very dreary tone because it suggests that he has experienced unusual tragedies. In contrast Frost’s poem has a very heavy and nostalgic tone that is meant to stick with people, and get them thinking about childhood and life. Frost achieves this tone with this quote, “So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be.” Frost is talking about childhood innocence and freedom, and how he wishes to have that again. He feels a certain isolation from a part of himself that isn’t naïve anymore. In this way Frost writes with a heavier, and more nostalgic tone that is very different from Poe’s dark and somber tone.

Frost talks of innocence and feeling isolated from himself, as compared to Poe who feels isolated from everyone else. Frost uses a lot of child-like imagery to accomplish this feeling of isolation, while Poe accomplishes it through his use of moody diction. “I should prefer to have some boy bend them as he went out and in to fetch the cows.” In this quote Frost is talking about swinging on birch trees and bending them. He is saying that he would rather a boy do it than the ice, which adds to his feeling of isolation from that childhood innocence. Frost is reflecting on a time in his life that he wants to relive again, “I’d like to get away from earth awhile and then come back to it and begin over.” The imagery of leaving earth and coming back is very innocent and child-like in essence, as is the boy swinging on the tree. These images add to Frost’s feeling of isolation from that time in his life that he wish he could go back to because he is seeing it through the eyes of a child. In “Alone” Poe uses a lot of moody diction, the title being one example. He uses words like “torrent” and “thunder” and “demon”, which add to his feeling of isolation from those around him. These words are very dark and withdrawn, which is exactly how Poe feels. They only enhance his feeling of isolation because they allude to inner torment. This separates Poe from other people, and makes his poem all the more moody and isolated.

Although Frost feels isolation from a time in his life he wishes he could go back to, Poe feels isolation from everything around him. Poe accomplishes his somber tone and moody diction with words that allude to his inner turmoil, while Frost accomplishes his nostalgic tone with wistful thoughts and explains his isolation through child-like imagery. “One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”