Isolation
The title of the poem and the repetition of the key stanza represent the poem’s main theme of isolation. After reflecting deeply one night, the speaker comes to the conclusion that she feels disconnected from the world in some way and alludes to the pain this isolation brings. The speaker uses a metaphor to describe her soul as needing a home, indicating that her soul is restless and lacking in some kind of social or spiritual nourishment that would make her feel the comfort of home. The key stanza, “Alone, all alone/Nobody, but nobody/Can make it out here alone,” is repeated throughout the poem to emphasize the speaker’s message, contributing to the somber tone of the poem.
Human suffering
The poem makes several references to sadness and human suffering. In the first stanza, the speaker is lonely and starved of human companionship. Later in the poem, the speaker also describes wealthy people and details how their money cannot buy them happiness. Wealthy millionaires have more money than they need. Their wives are hysterical and restless. Even their children sing the blues, referencing a deep sadness and yearning for spiritual comfort. Lastly, the poem states explicitly near its conclusion that the human race as a whole is suffering. The speaker warns the listener that terrible things are happening and will continue to happen to the human race if people do not band together and find solutions to their collective problems. People suffer on an individual level when they are isolated. However, on a larger scale, human suffering represents the problems that arise in society—war, racism, sexism—when people do not listen to each other and work out their issues together.
Solidarity
The notion of solidarity is presented as a solution to the poem’s main theme of isolation. While the speaker speaks of the pain of isolation throughout the poem, the repetition of the key stanza also suggests that the speaker is calling for solidarity. While she never explicitly tells the listener what to do, her tone throughout the poem is wise and convincing and resembles the speech of a teacher or religious figure making an important statement. When the speaker addresses the listener directly for the first time near the poem’s conclusion, she is actually demonstrating the act of solidarity by emerging from her own inner monologue and confiding her thoughts and hopes for action to another person.
