what does this poem nby Edgar Allan Poe mean?

Question

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 loved, I loved alone.
Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every 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 rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed 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.

Answer 1

It means he suffered from chronic depression, incest, pedophilia, and was an opium sot. Dear, dear, Edgar Allen.

Answer 2

Edgar is reflecting upon his own life, it seems. He is reviewing his childhood and realizing he felt different from other children. Even as a child he felt sorrow and could not find joy. Not even in the beauty of nature, which most find uplifting. He cannot get beyond the torment suffered as a child. He feel alone. There is no clue here as to what that torment was but it must have been great. He is drawing from his dark side and the writing is intriguing but sad.

Answer 3

I believe it means the narrator is saying ever since he was a child he realized he was totally different from everyone else. He didn't become happy and sad over the same things. He even looked at things differently, such as when others looked at a cloud and saw a cloud in the Heavens, he saw something that resembled a demon. He was always looking on the darker side of things and had an unusual, otherwordly view of life.

Answer 4

It is a short story called The Tell Tale Heart. I presume this is for school, and considering you can't get the title or the category right, you really need to study. However, it's memorable because it exposes human insanity, the fallibility of the human state and the way it turns over on itself involuntarily. Just read it, it's worth it. Poe is incredible.

Answer 5

It seems to me he is saying that his inspiration does not come from the usual sources (ie the beutiful sunset, or perfect blue sky) and that his eventful childhood was responsible for this block.

Suggestion: the title of a poem usualy offers a clue to the meaning of the poem, you should have included it.

Answer 6

I think he means that he never felt at one with his social milieu, his society, his heritage or his peers. From childhood he was called by a distant drummer that required of his own creative genius a response. The demon in his view was the call to art, poetry and creative writing, the lonely 'calling' to explore the dark and fearsome recesses of mankinds collective soul, the places where most of us fear to tread.

Answer 7

I believe people are sometimes born without certain chromes, such as a so called "Bad Seed", maybe Edgar was such only born like a black whole that only could take in darkness but kept out light. He saw it, wanted it, but when it came close to him it was tainted by his own shadows.

Answer 8

Seems to me to say, in many ways, that he always felt an outsider, saw dark while others saw light. But basically, that wasn't so bad. He made his own way.

Answer 9

Poe did suffer from depression, or so it is said. This is him writing about what it was like to live within his mind and how he felt that no one understood him.

Answer 10

The name of the poem is "Alone"
And it's about Edgar himself.