Alone Summary

"Alone" starts off with our speaker doing some serious soul-searching. She's feeling pretty isolated, but she thinks she just might have come up with an answer to her problems: people need community in order to get by. As it turns out, money won't buy you happiness. Even the very, very rich get lonely. So, don't try to make more money. Make friends instead. Our speaker fashions herself into something like a prophet, warning the "race of man" that things aren't about to get any easier anytime soon. The solution is (all together now.) to realize that no one can make it on their own!

Stanza 1 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem lineby-line.

Lines 1-2
Lying, thinking Last night

You know how your teachers always ask you to locate the time and place of the action in a literary piece? Well, Maya Angelou is making it pretty easy for you to get that little bit of tediousness out of the way in the first few lines. Our speaker's relating something that happened last night as she (or he) was drifting off to sleep. You could think of this as the "preflight" messages of this particular

poem. You're still on the tarmac, but the flight attendants make sure to let you know where you're at and where you're going (along with passing along nifty information like how to tighten your seat belt and maybe even how to ask for more peanuts). You can almost feel this poem revving its engines and getting ready to take off. Notice how the first two lines are almost half the length of the other lines in this stanza? It's almost as if Angelou split the first line in two.

Line 3-5
How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone

If you're wondering why you get a whole bunch of religious websites on your screen when you Google this poem, look no further. These

lines are the religious heart and, um, soul of the poem. So, what are they all about? Well, for starters, the speaker seems to think that her soul is a-wandering. You'd think that it would be safely lodged in her body, but no. It turns out that the soul needs somewhere else to live. And here's where these lines really get interesting: have you ever heard of water being "thirsty"? For one thing, water isn't a sentient being. It doesn't really get hungry or tired or worry about being late for school. It's just water. But that's beside the point. Even if water did feel things, it probably wouldn't feel thirsty, would it? After all, what do you usually drink to quench your thirst? (If you said "Diet Pepsi," we really need to talk.) Nope, you usually drinkwater. So, Angelou's turn of phrase suggests that something is seriously screwed up in the natural order of things. If

even water can recognize its natural qualities in this world, then maybe the soul does need to go searching for another world in which to live. and BAM. That's where we get into God's territory. See, a fundamental component of Christian theology is the belief that the human soul is in God's care. In other words, its "home" is not in this world (Earth) but in the heavens (with God). The next line might seem to reinforce this belief, but it does so with a weird twist. See, the whole bread/stone thing is actually a reference to the Bible, specifically Matthew 4:3, when Satan tries to tempt Jesus to turn stones into bread. (Jesus, of course, doesn't fall for it.) So, how does this particular reference fit into the poem? Well, here are our best guesses: Option 1: Angelou's suggesting that Satan has won: stones turn into

bread (so bread, conversely, is actually stone). We're a little worried about what that means for Jesus, but hey, that's not our concern right now. Option 2: Angelou's using the reference loosely, suggesting that bread which is anything but bread is a bad thing. We'd be inclined to agree!

Lines 6-7
I came up with one thing And I don't believe I'm wrong

OK. Here it is. After hours and hours of sleepless searching, our speaker's figured it all out. Stay tuned, folks. but before we get there, we should mention that it seems a little strange that our speaker needs to assert how right she is before she tells us what she's figured out. Doth

our speaker protest too much? Right now, it's still too early to tell.

Lines 8-10
That nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone.

Ah. Here's the wisdom acquired by that sleepless soul searching. People need other people. And just so you don't think that you're excluded from that statement, our speaker makes sure to say it twice: Nobody can get by all by themselves. That means you, too. Notice how the speaker puts herself in the same boat as the rest of us? She doesn't say that people can't make it out "there" alone. Nope. The speaker is in the same mess as the rest of us. We're all "here" wherever that is. And believe us,

"here" isn't all that pretty.

Stanza 2 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem lineby-line.

Lines 11-13
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.

In case you missed it the first time around, our speaker repeats herself. People need other people. Got it? And we should point out that this stanza is actually a repetition of the last couple of lines of the first stanza. This structure sets up a sort of call-and-response within the

poem. You can almost imagine one person singing the last few lines of stanza one and then an entire chorus of people responding by singing the exact same words. Such call and response structures are actually pretty common in black spirituals, which tend to have an almost identical format: first a story, then a chorus, then the repeated version of that chorus, and then more story. By crafting her poem along these lines, Angelou allows it to carry echoes of a long and welldeveloped tradition. Interestingly, spirituals tend to be sung by groups of people. In other words, when the "chorus" gets around to singing this verse, there would be lots and lots of people singing. Notice any irony here? They wouldn't be singing "all alone." In some ways, then placing this poem in the spiritual genre allows the poem to become its own solution!

Lines 14-15
There are some millionaires With money they can't use

Think this poem is only about the speaker? Oh, no. Everyone even the millionaire gets discussed when the speaker tackles this particular problem. Why pick on millionaires? Well, they're sort of a stand-in for the people who are supposedly happy and successful. After all, they make millions! But how do they really fare in the world? Let's find out

Lines 16-17
Their wives run round like banshees Their children sing the blues

Well, it turns out that they don't fare so well.

A "banshee" is a rather loud and annoying spirit who wails loudly and tends to show up when someone is about to die. They're rather unpopular figures in Irish mythology. In other words, they're not all that much fun to be around. And then we get to the kids. As far as our speaker is concerned, the kids are isolated and singing their own "blues." It turns out that this "family" of millionaires is actually isolated and fragmented. Each person operates on his or her own. There's no sense of community.

Lines 18-19
They've got expensive doctors To cure their hearts of stone.

Hmm. So, it turns out that these problems are not, in fact, medical problems. More importantly, as far

as our speaker is concerned, the choice to fix your body without fixing your soul is a big, big mistake. We've got to admit, our speaker has a point. If you think about it, healthcare is sort of omnipresent these days. If you're feeling sad, try some antidepressants. If you look too old, there's always Botox. Believe us, medicine has a valuable place in society. We're the first ones to sign up for flu shots! But when the speaker talks about the rich people's "hearts of stone," we're guessing that she's speaking metaphorically. She's not interested in the heart as a giant muscle. She's interested in that thing the Tin Man was missing in The Wizard of Oz a heart that helps you connect and feel.

Lines 20-22
But nobody

No, nobody Can make it out here alone.

hmmm. We feel like we've heard this one before. Moral of this particular story: the speaker can't make it alone. And rich people can't make it alone, either. You could think of this part of the stanza as a sort of checking back in with the central message of the poem: the speaker tells a little story, and then this chorus comes back to hammer home the point. We all experience the same sort of isolation.

Lines 23-25
Alone, all alone Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Sigh. Yet more alone-ness. Want to hear our spiel on why this repetition is interesting? Check out what we have to say about Stanza 2.

Lines 26-27
Now if you listen closely I'll tell you what I know

Aha. Now we're getting to the good stuff. We've followed the speaker through her own trials and troubles. We've seen how she relates those troubles to other folks who seem to have happier, better lives. And now we're about to get the big pay-off. Notice how our speaker has somehow morphed into an authority figure over the course of these past

few stanzas? She's gone from your run-of-the-mill insomniac to a person we trust to change the most fundamental problems of our life. How in the world did this happen? Well, we're not totally sure. But we're betting that it has something to do with all of that repetition we mentioned earlier. If you repeat something often enough, chances are that your listeners will start to believe it. And our speaker's banking on precisely this phenomenon. But it looks like there's even more that she's about to reveal. Are you sitting on the edge of your chair?

Lines 28-31
Storm clouds are gathering The wind is gonna blow The race of man is suffering And I can hear the moan,

Wow. So nature (the clouds and the wind) is starting to participate in the turmoil of the human soul. What in the world is going on here? Option 1: It could be like that amazing children's book,Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. You know, the one where the elements tend to mirror people's desires? In this case, we get storms and not food, but you get the general idea. Option 2: Angelou could also be tapping into a pretty Romantic tradition. (Just to be clear: we mean the literary period Romantic with a big "R" not the warm fuzzy hearts and love sort of romance.) For the Romantics, like Wordsworth and Tennyson, feelings could be described by aligning them with elements of the natural world. In other words, it's not storming outside because we're all unhappy. We see a storm and realize that it neatly mirrors our own rather crappy situation. It's a subtle difference, we

know, but it's a pretty important one. Notice how Angelou's speaker is clearly establishing herself once again as the authority figure in this particular scenario? She's the one who's in tune with the problems and sufferings of man. But don't worry. We're about to hear the solution. After all, that's what she promises us right at the beginning of this stanza.

Lines 32-34
'Cause nobody, But nobody Can make it out here alone.

Hey, wait a second! What happened to our solutions? We were promised solutions! And all we get is this refrain? C'mon. We've heard this one before! Whew. Now that we've got that out of our system, maybe we can talk

about why this poem doesn't offer any solutions. After all, it's not a twelve-step program or a self-help manual. It's a poem. Deal with it. Maybe Angelou doesn't offer any specific answers because there aren't specific answers. People make friends in different ways. People define communities in different ways. You could have 2,078 Facebook friends and still be lonely. You could have 2.078 Facebook friends and feel surrounded by love. You could have a pet turtle and feel surrounded by love. Who are we to judge? However you define community (or, as this poem would say, a "home" for your soul), though, you need it. And you need it now.

Lines 35-37
Alone, all alone

Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.

Seriously? You want more analysis of this refrain? C'mon, folks. It's the sixth time we've read it. SIX. That's a lot of times. OK, fine.. Check out Stanza 2. That's all we've got.

Too loose to be formal, too free to be loose

"Alone" lives somewhere in the no man's land between formal regularity and an absolute free-for-all. There are some absolutes: every other stanza, for example, is exactly the same. (We're talking about stanzas 2, 4, and 6 here). The first, third, and fifth stanzas are another story. They all have nine lines unless you count the first stanza, which has ten. (We could argue that the first two lines of the poem are actually one split line, but that's another story.) And those lines tend to have six or seven syllables unless, of course, you're talking about the 7th or 8th line. Those have four syllables each.

Confused yet? We don't blame you. Here's what we do know: there's not a metrical or formal regularity to this poem. There is, however, a sort of formal logic to the way that the poem's narrative unfolds. Think of it as a camp song: the camp counselor lays out a little bit of a story (six lines of it, to be precise) and then sings a verse that's easy to remember (in terms of our poem, this is always the last three lines of the stanza). And then the campers sing the verse back to the counselor. (That's the second, fourth, and sixth stanzas.) It's easy to remember because, well, if you're in the chorus, you don't have all that much to remember. Come to think about it, these sorts of call-and-response songs have been

popular for centuries. They were a big part of church traditions back when it wasn't common for everyone to have hymnals. They're the format most military marching songs tend to take: the C.O. shouts something out, and the squad shouts back a reply. They're the core of most oral traditions when you aren't able to write everything down, it's good to have a refrain as a sort of memory marker.

Speaker Point of View

Who is the speaker, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him? The speaker in this poem is a funny sort of character. She starts out as your regular, run-of-the-mill insomniac, a person who lets all sorts of thoughts run through her head because she just can't seem to sleep. By the end of the poem, however, the speaker's become something like our cultural conscience. She seems to know and see all of our suffering. And we do mean ALL of our suffering. This speaker seems to be blowing a warning horn. Things aren't getting any better. In fact, they seem to be getting worse. And as the crisis reaches its tipping

point, our speaker's omniscience only seems to increase. We've got to admit, though, this speaker plays a rather dirty trick on the reader: she promises us some sort of revelation, letting us know that she's about to reveal what she knows (line 22), and then she tells us. nothing. OK, it's not nothing. But she sure doesn't give us any tools to combat the alone-ness that seems to be creeping though the world like a plague. Nope. She just points out that people shouldn't be alone. Hmm, thanks. Thanks a lot. That's sort of like going to the doctor with a broken leg and being told that people shouldn't break bones. We might have grasped that the first time around. We're not saying that she doesn't have a valid point. We're just a

little upset that there don't seem to be any clear solutions. Then again, that's not our speaker's responsibility, is it? Aren'twe the ones who are supposed to figure out our own problems? Well, yes. But we'd probably like the speaker a whole lot more if she could just help us out a little!

Alone Setting
Where It All Goes Down

From Bed to the Great Beyond

We know right where this poem begins: in the speaker's bed, late at night. Where it ends, however, is another matter entirely. You can almost see the thought bubbles coming up from the speaker's bed and floating out into the wide, wide world. See, by the time we're in the second stanza, this poem is clearly settled in the Real World. You know, that world where some people have cash and some people don't a world that's economically and socially stratified.

There's no room for dreamy idealism, or any of the pensive nighttime thoughts that occupy the speaker's mind in Stanza 1. And then, by the time we're at Stanza 5, we've zoomed out far enough to be able to consider the entire "race of man." In other words, we've moved waaaaay back. We like to think of it as a "Earth seen from the Moon" sort of view. So, from one little bed to the entire world at a glance? It seems like setting just isn't this poem's most important focal point. Or perhaps it's important that the setting shifts if only because the problems that our speaker finds remain the same. Whether you're in your own bed at night or watching the rich and famous (probably on reality TV) or looking at the Earth from the Moon,

you're probably alone. Or at least you feel alone. When we get right down to it, this poem centers itself on an emotional landscape: the homelessness of the human soul. The roving, searching heart has no home- which is perhaps why we move from setting to setting in this poem as well.

Sound Check
Read this poem aloud. What do you hear? Have you ever listened to a gospel choir in concert? The sound FILLS the room. It sends shivers down your spine, brings tears to your eyes, and makes you forget about everything else but the music. We like to think of this poem as just that sort of sound. Sure, it starts out with just one voice, singing (or, if we're being precise, speaking) but by the time we get to the first refrain, it starts to sound like there's more than one voice involved here. And by the time that our speaker starts to address the problems of other folks in Stanza 3, she's already dealing with the whole community. It's

safe to assume that she's no longer talking to herself in bed at night. She's got an audience. And from the sound of things, they're taking an active part in creating the refrains of the poem. Try reading this poem all by yourself. Then try reading it with a few of your friends. You'll see what we mean. The refrains aremeant to be choral pieces. They just sound better when a whole bunch of people are speaking along together. And that's part of the hopeful message of this poem. If you imagine the refrain being spoken by a choir of voices, then the poem itself is already moving outside the spaces of isolation and alone-ness that the speaker so hates. Nifty, huh?

Alone Theme of Isolation

Lonesomeness is something that all humans (no matter who they are or where they live) know well. In a way, it connects us. However, the speaker of "Alone" warns that we cannot go through life all by our lonesome selves. Life will swallow us whole unless we've got family, friends, or a community of some kind to help us through the hard times.

Questions About Isolation

1. Does the speaker ever actually say that the millionaire is alone? How do we know that he fits into the same category as the speaker? 2. Do you think that the speaker is talking to an audience in this poem? If so, who? 3. How many times does the word "alone" appear in this poem? 4. Why do you think Angelou says "nobody can make it all alone" instead of something like "everybody needs other people"? What is the difference between these two phrases?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.

Although "Alone" seems to worry that people are isolated, the poem itself actually breaks out of isolation by addressing other people. There isn't any solution to the isolation described in this poem.

Alone Theme of Suffering

The speaker of "Alone" ominously declares that "the race of man is suffering/ and I can hear the moan." Instead of talking about how suffering is something that all humans experience at some point in their lives, our speaker warns people about a change she observes in the world. It's as though humans are suffering more and more. She's noticing a shift in how humans live, and she's worried.

Questions About Suffering

1. What do you think causes the speaker the most suffering in this poem? 2. Do you think that all people suffer equally in this poem? The speaker? The

millionaire? The millionaire's wife? 3. Why is being alone a bad thing? How does this poem describe it? 4. Is the loneliness in the world getting better or worse? What section of the poem helps you to come to this conclusion?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.

Although the speaker suggests that being alone is the cause of suffering in this poem, the true suffering seems to come from not knowing how to nourish the soul. This poem offers a cure for suffering: finding a community that can nourish the soul.

Alone Theme of Spirituality

We know from the start of "Alone" that our speaker is struggling to find her spirituality, to feel connected to something greater than herself. She is lying in her bed thinking about how to find her soul a home. As a result of her need and quest for spirituality, she has a revelation about all people. She realizes that in order for people to find homes for their souls, they have to stick together. Community helps spirituality flourish.

Questions About Spirituality

1. Is this poem about finding religion? Why or why not? 2. Is this poem advocating spiritual renewal by turning to a god or to a community? What in the poem helps you to come to your conclusion? 3. How do the references to the Bible contribute to the poem? 4. Do you think that the alone-ness described in this poem is fixable in this life? Why or why not?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.

There's no actual cure (in this world) for the alone-ness that the speaker describes in this poem. The cure for the alone-ness the speaker describes can be found by reconnecting with people around us.

Alone Theme of Society and Class

Lots of people feel that money can cure everything, but the speaker of "Alone" (and the Notorious B.I.G.) knows differently. She tells us that even millionaires, with more money than they can use, can't make it through life all alone. Money doesn't bring happiness and it doesn't chase the blues way, she argues. In fact, it seems to make some people even lonelier. Loneliness, therefore, is something that everyone, regardless of money or class, copes with. It's a powerful force.

Questions About Society and Class

1. Why do you think the speaker singles out millionaires in Stanza 3? 2. Do you think that the millionaire's kids suffer differently than other kids? If so, how? 3. Do you think that this poem is about all people everywhere? Why or why not? 4. Does this alone-ness seem to be getting worse in this particular time? Why or why not?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.

As it turns out, money actually makes people less fulfilled than other, poorer people. Money doesn't affect whether or not a person is alone at all.