GRIDLOCK

Alone by Edgar Allan Poe

TPCASTT: Poem Analysis  Method: title, paraphrase, connotation, diction, attitude, tone, shift(s), title revisited and theme
Title  of poem means	- How Edgar Allan Poe felt (or still feels). - A description of his life.
Paraphrase  parts of the Poem	- Edgar Allan Poe was describing his childhood.  - He wrote about how different he was compared to others. - No matter how hard he tired to be content with himself/life, he wasn't.  - He could not escape from his sorrows. - Although his life was "stormy," Poe was surrounded by beauty that he was unable to see because sorrow blocked his view. - Edgar Allan Poe lived a lonely life because of his differences.
Connotation  of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values	- "stormy life" meaning difficult/dark childhood. - "from the sun that round me rolled" meaning the brightness/good things in life that surrounded him. - "demon in my view" meaning all the darkness that kept him from being content with his life as a child.The "demon" may be him.
Attitude  What is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?	- sincere - lyrical - reflective - gloomy
Shift  At first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift:  identify the shifts and explain them	From "My sorrow; I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone; And all I loved, I loved alone." to "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:" - Talks about his sorrow (feel sympathetic) then shifts to how mysterious something in his life was. From "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," to "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." - Shifts from the things that he was surrounded by in life to darkness.
Title revisited  Any new insights on meaning or significance of title?	- Describes Poe's life. - Edgar Allan Poe grew up alone (he lost his parents as a child). - He was alone because he didn't have the same mind set as everyone else.
Theme	- Loneliness - Isolation

SEVENTH READING

 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 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. 

My interpretation after reading the poem seven times... 
- Edgar Allan Poe was describing his childhood. 
- He wrote about how different he was compared to others.
- No matter how hard he tired to be content with himself/life, he wasn't. 
- He could not escape from his sorrows.
- Although his life was "stormy," Poe was surrounded by beauty that he was unable to see because sorrow blocked his view.
- Edgar Allan Poe lived a lonely life because of his differences.