Edgar Allen Poe is considered to be one of the leading writers of the Gothic Romantic period of literature. One of Poe’s famous short stories, The Fall of the House of Usher, creates a dark and sorrowful atmosphere, with a deep story of connection between brother and sister intertwined within. Poe conveys this atmosphere through powerful and elaborate use of diction, to tie into the overarching theme of tradition. Poe is renowned throughout history for his beautiful and elaborate use of diction and symbolism. He uses copious amounts of description to conjure up vivid scenes in the reader’s mind.
The depressing mood in “The Fall of the House of Usher” also insinuates fear in the opening paragraph by describing the atmosphere and appearance of the house. Poe uses “dull, dark and soundless” (Poe 1) descriptive words to describe the atmosphere around the Usher house. He explains the “clouds [hanging] oppressively low” (Poe 1) and the sense of “insufferable gloom” (Poe 1) coming from the house. Poe employs this to set a melancholy tone and prepare the reader for the gloomy description of how the usher house appears, which the reader will find expected. The usher house is personified as a person by its “bleak walls…vacant eye-like windows…rank sedges…
Imagery in Decay Topic: How Poe uses Imagery to further the plot in The Fall of the House of Usher Tentative thesis: Through the use of imagery Edgar Allan Poe shows a decrepit, dying family; by portraying the decay of both the house and those who reside in it Poe sets up the final fate of the two main characters in his short story. Topic sentence 1: Throughout the short story Poe uses the landscape and the very trees to give the house a supernatural life and induce horror in the reader.
There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect.” In the description of the house in “The Fall of the House of the Usher” is very displeasing as well. “…And upon a few white trunks of decayed trees—which I can compare no earthly sensation more properly then to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium.” Even the narrator describes a depressing feeling from the look of the Usher house. There is a similar eerie setting in “The Man of the Crowd.”
When the narrator arrives at the house of Usher he describes it by saying, “I looked upon the scene before me-upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain--upon the bleak walls-upon the vacant eyelike windows-upon a few rank sedges-and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees-with and utter depressions of soul” (paragraph 1) The way Poe uses personification to create suspense is that he uses the house to make it look like it is looking at the narrator causing the narrator to feel uneasy and creeped out. It also creates tension for the reader because it makes the reader fear what will happen to the narrator once he goes inside this house that the narrator describes that is looking at him. Tom's marriage and wife were described as “He had a wife as miserly as himself: they were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other. Whatever the woman could lay hands on, she hid away; a hen could not cackle but she was on the alert to secure the new-laid egg.”
Another piece of evidence suggest the house represents the head of a human due to the description of the blonde hair and it described as having eyes. On page two in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’; or, Poe’s Mad Lines it states “the logic of this imagery suggests that the House Of Usher is supposed to represent a human skull, but one that is “haunted” or falling apart”
In life, you will have a time where you must make a hard choice, one that could impact your life significantly. Once settling with the right decision you instantly get hit by regret and anxiety, questioning yourself if you choose the right decision or not. Emotions cause negative outcomes, affect people's lives. In the novel Lord Of The Flies, Roger had the decision to kill piggy. He has the chance to kill piggy, so he did.
The crack in the house and the dead trees imply that the house and its surroundings are not sturdy or promising. These elements indicate that a positive outcome is not expected. The thunder,strange light, and mist create a spooky feeling for the reader. In "The Fall of the house of Usher," Edgar Allan Poe creates suspense and fear in the reader. He also tries to convince the reader not to let fear overcome him.
In both The Fall of the House of Usher and The Yellow Wall-Paper the houses are symbolic representations of the people who live inside of them. The houses are similar to the characters physically and psychologically. Roderick Usher can relate to his own house, they are both creepy and dark, as well as old and rotten. The narrator does not seem to relate to her house at first glance, but as her madness grows, it is easy to see that both are separate from society, and both utterly confusing.
Words like “dull” and “oppressive” along with phrases like “soundless day in the autumn of year,...” (Poe, line 1) help prevail the darkness lingering outside the house of Usher as if all the evils of the world would be spent on one final blow on the Usher family. As the story progresses however, both Usher and the narrator end up going crazy as the gloomy weather and the reawakening of Usher’s twin sister both contribute to the evils destroying the Usher family.
However, the gloom furthers itself when the main character finally arrives upon the House of Usher property where he sees that the house has bleak walls, vacant eyelike windows, white trunks of decaying trees, and there is a crack that zigzags from the corner roof of the home to the opposite bottom corner, which the house later is a symbol of Roderick Usher and his mental health. Roderick
In “The Fall of the House of Usher” the tone gives off an eerie and bizarre feeling. This is similar to many of Poe’s other short stories but this piece the most. The tone is gloomy compared to “The Black Cat” that Poe has also written. The author starts off the story with immense details of the setting. The readers get a dark vibe from these details.
“There was a coldness, a sickening of the heart, in which I could discover nothing to lighten the weight I felt” This line perfectly sums up the overall tone of The Fall of the House of Usher. The story at its most basic level is about a man who visits his old friend in a house which is seemingly under some sort of supernatural hex. The way Poe goes into such detail describing the characters and their personal reactions to the events that take place during the story help the reader to stay close to the actions of the story. Additionally Poe describes the house so well that the reader can easily picture the dilapidated mess as if standing in front of it.
For instance , the images such as “ decayed trees “ also reveals that the house is located far away from urban which is portrayed as “
Throughout “The Fall of the House of Usher,” metaphor and symbolism are heavily relied upon to express the extent of the madness that resides within the Usher House. In the short story, Poe creates a symbolic parallel between the art and stories that are seen and told. It can be implied, from a painting, in the Usher house, that Lady Madeline Usher is still alive. The reader can also imply that there is a hidden tunnel or room under the entirety of the house. “The Mad Trist” indirectly tells the reader of Lady Madeline’s escape from the tomb she had been placed in.
