The poet is deeply sad and feels left out throughout the poem. He compares his life with that of the others and the feeling of being deprived of happiness and love which other people surrounding him had made him all the more sad and hurt.
He is comparing what he do not have with what other people, comparable with him, loves and enjoys. He is so deeply impacted by the cruel sites of his childhood loneliness, that it has become hard to become positive now. In the beauty of life as well, he could only imagine the evilness and cruelty.
In the beginning of the poem the poet tells us that even during his childhood he was different than other people. Poet talks about his personal sense of feeling which was very much different from other people, even from a very early age. He not only feels different from others; he sees (or thinks) differently and also feels differently. His emotions are not the kinds of emotions most other people feel. Poet says that he have viewed things from a different perspective than other people did. “I have not seen as others saw.” Also, he states he was unable to feel deep strong love from the same source as other people. Also his source of passion has never been the same as those around him. It means that when other children got love from his parents and other near and dear ones, he was not the same. He was aloof, alone, sadist and felt deserted.
Edgar Allan Poe
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The speaker compares his view with the views of others; this difference is what makes the speaker an outsider. This is the reason he feels isolated. Once again the speaker emphasizes his sense of distinctness. Poet notes that things that he feels strongly (“passionately”) about are not the same as the experiences of others. With these people, he has nothing in common.
Neither his negative nor his positive emotions resemble those of most people. Even in case of love, he was unusual. He is “alone.” In sorrow he has not been the same, has been unable to draw joy from life as others, and he has been alone in love. He has loved himself that is his loneliness. There was no one to wipe his tears away and no one who could love him. He was always deprived of love.
Just as the speaker felt different from others when he was a child, so he feels different from them in his youth and even now. He cannot quite understand why or how he came to feel so different from others: such feeling is a “mystery” to him. He does not want to think in this line, or feel differently than others, but he himself is unable to learn the reason behind such deep thoughts. But he does not seem to regard his feeling of distinctness.
From early in his life, it has been stormy difficult and full of upheaval. He does not understand, for he feels enveloped in a mystery that he faced while, when he was young and still has not revealed the truth of itself to him.
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While he tries to find the cause of this thinking, he analyze whatever he thinks about, he is surrounded by such a deep sense of loneliness. When others are enjoying the beautiful mountains or the stream of fresh blue flowing water, he is not taken by that beauty. Be it the beauty of sunset which makes the tip of the mountain red and attractive that one feels peaceful looking at that site or it is the glowing sun shine which makes everything brightened up; but he still feels lonesome and does not enjoy this beauty.
Moreover, whenever there is heavy lightning in the sky followed by raindrops, or the love filled autumn season when all the leaves start to turn golden in color and touches every heart by flying in the warm air, I still feel the same and is unable to enjoy any weather or any beautiful landscapes.
Next, the poem says that be it any extremes as well, strong thunder or storm, or the lovely clouds in the sky which look as cute as the foam in the clear blue sky, but he feels very different. The poet tries to say that his thoughts are always negative, and he is not able to enjoy anything at all. For him, everything appears to be like demonic and evil.