Moreover, the tone fluctuates to a muddled self-accepting tone as the narrator begins to question whether his loneliness is a benefit or a burden. Poe compares his loneliness to nature’s contrasting aspects such as a “the torrent, or the fountain” (13-14). While a fountain associates a peaceful image, a torrent connotes destruction, which amplifies the narrator’s confusion of his abnormalities. Moreover, he then compares the loneliness to “the red cliff of the mountain,” which connotes a much more peaceful meaning than that of a “torrent” or “sorrow” as he slowly learns that solitude is not necessarily a sorrowful state. The destructive yet serene portrayal of nature connotes the confusion between being alone and being lonely as it is “the mystery that binds him still” (12). It is not the dark feeling or the loneliness that “binds” the narrator; it is instead his consistent indecisiveness towards his solitude that “binds” him. Consequently, the tone changes once more from a disarrayed to an asserting state as the narrator grows to realize that the acceptance of his true self is the reason for his
Moreover, the tone fluctuates to a muddled self-accepting tone as the narrator begins to question whether his loneliness is a benefit or a burden. Poe compares his loneliness to nature’s contrasting aspects such as a “the torrent, or the fountain” (13-14). While a fountain associates a peaceful image, a torrent connotes destruction, which amplifies the narrator’s confusion of his abnormalities. Moreover, he then compares the loneliness to “the red cliff of the mountain,” which connotes a much more peaceful meaning than that of a “torrent” or “sorrow” as he slowly learns that solitude is not necessarily a sorrowful state. The destructive yet serene portrayal of nature connotes the confusion between being alone and being lonely as it is “the mystery that binds him still” (12). It is not the dark feeling or the loneliness that “binds” the narrator; it is instead his consistent indecisiveness towards his solitude that “binds” him. Consequently, the tone changes once more from a disarrayed to an asserting state as the narrator grows to realize that the acceptance of his true self is the reason for his