Read the following excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Alone" and answer the questions that follow:
"From childhood's hour I have not been As others were; I have not seen As others saw; I could not bring My passions from a common spring. From the same source I have not taken My sorrow; I could not awaken My heart to joy at the same tone; And all I loved, I loved alone."

What is the speaker expressing about his childhood and emotions in the first four lines of the poem?