Alone
I am alone, in spite of love,In spite of all I take and give--In spite of all your tenderness,Sometimes I am not glad to live.
I am alone, as though I stoodOn the highest peak of the tired gray world,About me only swirling snow,Above me, endless space unfurled;
With earth hidden and heaven hidden,And only my own spirit's prideTo keep me from the peace of thoseWho are not lonely, having died.
About this text
Alone is in the public domain. This text is taken from Flame and Shadow, Project Gutenberg ebook #591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Sara Teasdale, Alone, in Flame and Shadow (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/teasdale-flame-shadow/alone.html, id L17027.
Form and metre
Alone is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A love · giveA · tenderness · liveA
- 2 -A-A stood · worldA · snow · unfurledA
- 3 -A-A hidden · prideA · those · diedA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am alone, in spite of love, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| In spite of all I take and give-- | 8 | ········ |
| In spite of all your tenderness, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Sometimes I am not glad to live. | 8 | ˘/······ |
| I am alone, as though I stood | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| On the highest peak of the tired gray world, | 10 | ··/˘···/·· |
| About me only swirling snow, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Above me, endless space unfurled; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With earth hidden and heaven hidden, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And only my own spirit's pride | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To keep me from the peace of those | 8 | ········ |
| Who are not lonely, having died. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.