A close analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's
'The Fall Of The House Of Usher.'
Critics such as Eino Railo and Mario Praz include gothic writings in their definitions of romanticism where gothic becomes the darker, negative side to romanticism. Due to his intense focus on life, emotions (particularly that of terror: a staple in gothic fiction) and the existence of the human race, Poe is often grouped with other writers in the Romantic period. I feel that although Poe's work has many characteristics of Romanticism, 'The Fall of the House of Usher falls' falls firmly into the Gothic category.
The short story is usually admired for its 'atmosphere' and for its exquisitely artificial manipulation of Gothic ideals encompasses a unique setting, which acts out the story in itself; with much emphasis placed on the feelings that the house gives to the unnamed narrator.
The imagery of the house and the inanimate objects inside also play a symbolic role in this story.
"The Fall of the House of Usher" was published wid...
The Fall of the House of Usher
English: The Fall of the House of Usher (1928) is ...when the narrator approaches the house of Roderick Usher, a long term friend, and is instantly struck by the windows; appearing to be "vacant" and "eye-style" (pg 138). Poe's descriptions of the inanimate objects as objects with life-like characteristics, gives the house a supernatural quality and spikes at the narrators superstitions. The land around the house has a lack of colour and healthy vegetation. This can be said to represent Usher's surroundings. They are dark, plagued and hopeless. Perhaps these surroundings are the source of his depression, or perhaps only a part of it. From afar, the house seems stable. Quite in good shape in fact, but upon closer inspection, it can be seen that the house's innards are rotten. The house, along with Usher's mind, is about to crumble. Another resemblance between Roderick and his house...