Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allan Poe is still considered to be one of today’s greatest writers. Poe, born in 1809, is known as a dark, depressing, and mysterious writer, and he excelled in the art of the short story, primarily horror stories. His words have haunted readers for years, told tales of death and destruction, and inspired people even now. He has been compared to Hawthorne, by their similar use of symbolism, but unlike Hawthorne, Poe taught no moral lessons except for the discipline of beauty. However, in Herman Melville we also see the same sensibility for symbolic expression. That being said, Poe does stand out on his own. Nearly anyone can recall the line “Quoth the raven, nevermore.” Many of us have heard the legend of a heart beating underneath the floor boards. We know the story of a maiden in a tomb by the side of the sea. Edgar Allan Poe is someone who cannot be escaped in literature, as he is such a huge figure. He is known as being dark, misunderstood, and even “demented”. His parents died when he was young, he married his cousin, and he died mysteriously. But, he made an impact. He was struck with poverty, anxiety, and tragedy, and from that, developed the short story, symbolic poetry, and tales that last forever.

In The Fall of the House of Usher, we see the kind of tale we have come to expect with Edgar Allan Poe's writing. The narrator has been invited to his childhood friend, Roderick Usher's house. Roderick tells the narrator that his twin sister, Madeline, has died. The two, believing that she is dead, place her in a tomb. Roderick is overcome with anxiety, and the narrator reads to him, attempting to calm him down and make him feel better. Roderick, however, is convinced that he hears Madeline trying to escape her coffin. As it turns out, the door opens, and Madeline is behind it with blood staining her white robes. Madeline and Roderick both die, and narrator leaves before the mansion is destroyed by a storm.

Many of Edgar Allan Poe's stories revolve around themes like these, death, mystery, curses, and hauntings. This one is no different. The suspense builds as the story goes on, and we hear his vast vocabulary, with words crafted specifically for vivid descrptions and imagery. We feel the anxious tremblings of a man losing his mind. When Poe writes about a storm, we feel the storm. Poe is the first author we've studied that really delves into gothic literature to this extreme.

We see examples of his brilliant imagery in even the first paragraph of the story:

"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country, and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher."

Another example, on page 874, is:

"A cadaverousness of complexion; and eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy, hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity; -- these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten."