Edgar Allen Poes short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and various forms of figurative language enhance the storys evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants eerie and supernatural qualities. Poes effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher. Poes use of personification, the act of giving human characteristics to nonhuman things, assigns the house of Usher a powerful and evil presence. In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator describes the house as having vacant eye-like windows. He uses this description twice: first to show that the house has seen everything that has led to the fall of Usher, and again to emphasize the unidentified deception of the house. The narrator also describes his negative reaction to the house as a hideous dropping off of the veil. This statement describes what the house has revealed to the narrator, a disgusting and disappointing appearance. Poe also uses symbolism to compare the deterioration of the house to the fall of the Usher dynasty. In Rodericks poem, The Haunted Palace, he describes the history of the house as it began as a strong and radiant palace, which over time became a decrepit, disease-ridden cage. The radiant palace represents the qualities of the Usher family, prosperous and resilient. Its later state, a condemned structure, represents the malevolence that has weakened the name Usher. In stanza III, the luminous windows saw spirits moving musically, the same two windows who, in stanza VI, become red-litten windows, seeing vast forms that move fantastically to a discordant melody. This weakening of the state of the house exemplifies the weakening of the Usher family, as there are only two members left, both of which are ill.Poes use of foreshadowing, the act of p...
