"Walking Alone" by Michael Anderson is a poem that I found over Thanksgiving break. I was able to relate to this poem because on Thanksgiving break, rather than sharing it with my own family, I was forced to share it with the family of my mother's boyfriend; an awkward experience to say the least. This experience was one to make me feel very alone; just as Anderson expatiates on in his poem "Walking Alone".
The imagery in the third stanza is invoked as a response to Edgar Allan Poe's "Alone". In Poe's work, he writes: "Then- in my childhood- in the dawn/ Of a most stormy life- was drawn/ From ev'ry depth of good and ill". Anderson sympathisizes with this in his second stanza. He says that he was also born in this storm, and the lightning flash surprised him. The word "embering" suggests that this image of the lightning flash is burned into his mind forever. And he continues to say that this storm is "followed closely by silent rain,/ Blood-red, falling from the sky in vain." These images project a negative sense of this 'aftershock' following the beginning storm of which Anderson claims having been born during. This image of blood falling from the sky alludes to an assumption that Anderson not only does not enjoy life, but he feels different, as if he is always smothered by this dreary cloud, just as Poe did. However, in my opinion, I believe that Anderson's response and agreement to Poe suggests a more negative perception of this lonely lifestyle, and thus, I enjoyed reading more to an extent.
Response to: "Alone", by Edgar Allan Poe. I, too, was born of a world not the same, Amongst white snow, a raindrops' shame. In life's garden, a dormant seed. A heart held of dissimilar need. I, too, was awed by lightning's flash, Embering in mind even after the crash. Followed closely by silent rain, Blood-red, falling from the sky in vain. The wind chimed and the earth shook from thunder, And my mind was but befixed to wonder; How could I stand amidst this storm, Seek shelter not, yet still seem warm? But I, too, take my sorrow at a site- Other souls would nonchalantly slight. And I, too, have felt the need for love, But could only love that need which I dreamt of. And as I peered deep through the skies, The clouds grew black to shut my eyes. The demon that came in your view, Now's taken from me what he took from you. In the garden the seed has sprang, A nameless child unearths the pang. Felt for the flower, both eyes in close. Took twenty thorns to touch the rose. A wondering mind looked to the sky, So beautiful it had to die. Laid it to rest upon the stone, And turned away a man full grown. Singing the same song at a different tone, In thoughts, destined to die, unknown. Born unto a world not of our own,We walked together, walking alone. |
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