The use of words such as “others” (2), “common” (4), “same” (6), and “all” (8) portrays the speaker as the only one who is unique, when, in reality, no one is exactly the same. As the poem continues, though, the reader finds that it isn’t necessarily his personality that is different, but rather the speaker’s perception of life. The persona claims “[he had] not seen / as others saw” because he believes that his perception of common occurrences is distorted compared to others (2-3). This leads to the speaker feeling “alone” in everything that he lives for when in reality all people have different emotional triggers and impressions of certain experiences.
The use of words such as “others” (2), “common” (4), “same” (6), and “all” (8) portrays the speaker as the only one who is unique, when, in reality, no one is exactly the same. As the poem continues, though, the reader finds that it isn’t necessarily his personality that is different, but rather the speaker’s perception of life. The persona claims “[he had] not seen / as others saw” because he believes that his perception of common occurrences is distorted compared to others (2-3). This leads to the speaker feeling “alone” in everything that he lives for when in reality all people have different emotional triggers and impressions of certain experiences.