The Fall of The House of Usher by Stephen Paul

Song choice

sp57926_ — 2023-10-31 15:45:03 UTC

This song relates to the story because the song talks about pain and doubt and this relates because the main character, Roderick Usher, struggles with the pain and doubt of losing his loved one.

ICE

sp57926_ — 2023-11-01 15:56:34 UTC

In the story, when the narrator makes it to the house and is riding in on his horse, he finds that it is very creepy and gloomy. Poe describes "...an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn - a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued," (Poe 4). This quote shows how when the narrator makes it to the house, he is met with a rather creepy and gloomy atmosphere that makes him uncomfortable and makes him feel like he is in a dream.

Poetic Device

sp57926_ — 2023-11-03 15:49:10 UTC

One poetic device in "The Haunted Palace" that is significant to the poem is, "And round about his home the glory /That blushed and bloomed /Is but a dim-remembered story /Of the old time entombed," (Poe 20). This is significant because it shows a turning point in the poem, but that can also relate to Usher's life. He was once a happy man with a family and friends, but now after losing most of his family, and about to lose his sister, his old life of happiness and character is "dim-remembered" and "entombed."

Q&A

sp57926_ — 2023-11-03 16:01:38 UTC

Poe includes this song in the story because it shows essential information about Roderick Usher that we didn't know before. For example, the text reads, "I fancied that I perceived, and for the first time, a full consciousness on the part of Usher of the tottering of his lofty reason upon her throne," (Poe 18). This shows how this song relates to the entire showing of Usher's consciousness since it has been many years since the narrator has seen Usher.

Gothic Characteristic #1

sp57926_ — 2023-11-09 21:07:47 UTC

One Gothic Characteristic in The Fall of the House of Usher is the atmosphere of mystery and suspense. At the beginning of the book, when the narrator sees the house for the first time, Poe writes, "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 an utter depression of soul," (Poe 1). This quote shows how when the narrator makes it to the house, there is a mysterious atmosphere that makes the narrator have a vaguely uncomfortable feeling.

Gothic Characteristic #2

sp57926_ — 2023-11-09 21:23:43 UTC

Another Gothic Characteristic in The Fall of the House of Usher are Moody, Solitary male characters. Poe accentuates this characteristic by describing Roderick Usher in such a way that it shows how depressed Roderick Usher actually is. Poe writes, "In the manner of my friend I was once struck with an incoherence- an inconsistency; and I soon found this to arise from a series of feeble and futile struggles to overcome an habitual trepidancy- an excessive nervous agitation," (Poe 8). This shows how sometimes Usher has episodes where he is very inconsistent and agitated and sometimes depressed where he can't do things because of these episodes.

Gothic Characteristic #3

sp57926_ — 2023-11-09 21:34:33 UTC

The third Gothic Characteristic in The Fall of the House of Usher is Inclement weather (rain; overcast; storms). In the story, Poe explains how Usher has a raging fit thinking he is seeing someone when in reality it is just a foggy and stormy day outside and that is influencing his thoughts. Poe writes, "It was, indeed, a tempestuous yet sternly beautiful night, and one wildly singular in its terror and its beauty. A whirlwind had apparently collected its force in our vicinity; for there were frequent and violent alterations in the direction of the wind; and the exceeding density of the clouds (which hung so low as to press upon the turrets of the house) did not prevent our perceiving the lifelike velocity which they flew careering from all points against each other, without passing away into the distance," (Poe 34). This shows how there was a terrible storm that most likely was influencing Usher's behavior to where he was going crazy.