By: Shannon Walsh
For my second blog post, I decided to explore the poem “Alone” by Celia Thaxter. I titled this blog post “Contradictions in Nature,” because I found Thaxter’s poems to emphasize that idea. Her poem is entitled, “Alone,” and most definitely explores themes of loneliness and solitude, however, she does it in such a way that diminishes the negative connotation that sometimes follows the word ‘alone.’ She does not just compare aloneness to loneliness, but also explores themes of longing, solitude, and isolation.
After reading the poem a few times, I have understood that Thaxter praises nature as she describes certain scenes when writing: “evening’s dusk and dew,” “lilies clustered fair and tall,” and “rich roses blushing red.” These small descriptions of nature immediately set the scene of the poem, something that seems like a garden. Additionally, I understood the “she” of the poem to be the woman who is tending to the flowers in the garden. The speaker observes her actions and expresses a longing to be closer to her, or perhaps her object of attention. This longing suggests that the unnamed woman holds significance to the speaker in some way, although never explicitly mentioned. The speaker observes the woman with an endearing tone, one that gives the poem a kind of poignant feel. Thaxter’s portrayal of solitude offers a perspective of profound appreciation for being alone. Overall, the poem has an introspective tone, where the speaker seems to be someone on the outside looking in, then consequently reflecting inwards of themselves.
I chose this poem out of the list because its simplicity spoke to me. The short lines with beautiful descriptions captivated me upon first glance. I sometimes find it challenging to interact with short poems because I find that there is not much substance to pull from (which of course is not entirely true), or that I am interpreting the meaning of the poem entirely wrong. However, I was not met with those challenges when analyzing this poem. Thaxter’s language and tone made the poem flow so easily, which helped to illustrate its themes.
The poem follows an AABB, or coupled, rhyme scheme. As I find with many poems, the tactic of rhyming helps the poem to read more like a song and flow very well. She did not utilize any words that I did not know the prior meaning of, which also allowed me to read through the poem fluidly. There are four stanzas, each with four lines that end with a period at the end. The one exclamation mark in line three of stanza four drew my attention more directly to the line, “That rose she touched so tenderly!” I often notice punctuation marks in poetry because I find that they are intentional and make the readers notice something different about the line they are paired with.
The poem holds strong cultural meaning in several ways. For example, “Alone” reflects on themes of romanticism and nature, both common to 19th century poetry. The deep appreciation for nature’s beauty, along with themes of love and longing all speak to common themes of the Romantic period. A main idea that reveals itself in the last two lines of the poem is desolation when Thaxter writes, “I stood alone, outside the gate, And knew that life was desolate.” The speaker’s individual experience is actually common to the overall human experience with feelings of loneliness and desolation despite the beauty of the things and people around us and in nature.
In terms of my own experience, I feel as though I have experienced moments similar to those the speaker is addressing. Thaxter is writing about a specific scene in a garden, but her message seems to be more broad. I have experienced moments of solitude in nature, specifically ones where I observe the other people around me and feel a strange longing to be recognized or understood by them, or strangers in general.
Along with the ways in which “Alone” is deemed culturally significant, are its factors that make it typical of nineteenth century poetry. These factors include the form, tone, and themes that I have mentioned above. However, Thaxter also employs factors that deviate from nineteenth century poetry as well. For example, the poem subverts typical gender roles in the sense that the speaker shows their vulnerability and emotional expression. Additionally, Thaxter’s poem offers a perspective on love and longing from a female viewpoint, which was less common in mainstream poetry throughout the nineteenth century.
This poem (and my experience with it) was beautiful. The language of it feels timeless and universal for the human experience. I enjoyed the incorporation of nature and humans into one poem. The idea of the speaker being so curious and “longing” for someone, or something, was a really intriguing topic to read about through the form of poetry.
The image above depicts the poet Celia Thaxter
