The Fall Of The House Of Usher By Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe- an American author, poet, editor, and literary critic, is known for his tales of horror and mystery. With the success from his short stories and poems, Poe captured the interest and imagination from reader’s spread around the world. Edgar was born January 19th, 1809, in Boston Massachusetts’s. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is one of Poe’s most famous pieces of work. The short story was published during the year of 1839 and has captivated reader’s attention ever since. Poe’s creating of a certain tone or atmosphere throughout this story pushes the audience to read the entire story, question various aspects, and gain interest from the foreshadowing methods he includes from beginning to end. Some scholars have accused Edgar …show more content…
This specific short story was written during the gothic era and alongside Poe’s writing style, it is what readers rely on to get the true message and atmosphere out of the words they are reading. In “The House of Usher”, Edgar makes sure the first sentence sets the mood for the entire story. It is what intrigues readers off the bat. It begins with the narrator describing the “dull, dark, and soundless” appearance of the melancholy house he arrives at. As the story progresses, the descriptions of the Usher family home and of Roderick and Madeline create an atmosphere of evil dread that permeates throughout the entire story. Unlike many of Poe’s previous work, this story does not use the typical first person point of view. Instead, the narrator is unknown to readers, making fantasies come to a reality. Foreshadowing also plays a huge role throughout this story. One of the most prevalent examples of this is the crack that the narrator notices within his initial arrival to the “Usher” house. Although he notes that the house appears to be structurally solid, Poe took the time to describe its flaws as well, causing an illusion for the audience. At first, readers do not realize the importance of the small and inconsequent crack, but by the end of the story the crack lead to the ultimate destruction of the entire house. Poe easily instills a sense of fear as well as thrill in the reader with …show more content…
Any type of reader, casual or dramatic, can appreciate the story. The combination between an unknown narrator, five specific themes, and Edgar’s use of foreshadowing and writing style allowed the readers to look critically and analytically at the story, while simply still enjoying the read. The techniques Poe employed will continue to make this short story one of the most