Edgar Allan Poe – “The Fall of the House of Usher”
FYI: The bold text provides explanation/notes to help you as you move through the story. For this assignment, you might want to write answers in a new document. If you write in this document, you will need to remove both the questions and this extra information.
1. What two meanings can the word “house” have in the title of the story?
2. The first paragraph of the story immediately establishes the tone, or mood, of the tale which he is about to relate. What physical details accomplish this? Add seven or more details from the paragraph to the list.
3. The next two paragraphs describe Roderick Usher, and Poe gives an even more detailed description on pp. 751-752 as the narrator meets Roderick (paragraph beginning, “Upon my entrance, Usher arose . . . .”). Write a brief physical description of Roderick. What is his malady? To what is he “a bounden slave”? (p. 752) What is the purpose of the narrator’s visit?
4. At this point in the story, we meet Madeline Usher. Describe her.Describe her from your honest thoughts based on what you see in the text.
The next few paragraphs summarize Roderick’s pastimes. He plays “long improvised dirges,” his paintings are described as “phantasmagoric conceptions,” and the books he reads are occult and fantastic. Notice how consistent Poe is in his crafting of this protagonist.
5. The poem “The Haunted Palace” is one that we could explore in detail, but the meaning behind it is fairly simple.
a. What do the first four stanzas describe? List some of the pleasant images in these stanzas (greenest of valleys, radiant palace, etc.). How do the “spirits” move in stanza III?
b. What happens to the kingdom in stanzas V and VI? How do the “vast forms” move now?
c. If the palace stands for the human mind, what does the poem mean?
6. What is Roderick’s manner in the days following Madeline’s burial?
7. The night of “the fall of the house of Usher” has sometimes been described by students as “a dark and stormy night.” Yes, the night is definitely dark and quite stormy. .
Read the paragraph that begins “The impetuous fury of the entering gust . . . .” and to enjoy Poe’s beautiful language in that paragraph. What one image stands out to you and why? An image is simply a sight or sound expressed in writing. Feel free to look up words to help you write a good interpretation.
8. At this point, Poe places a story within the story. In my opinion, Poe’s crafting of the story is brilliant here. To comfort Roderick, the narrator reads to him from The Mad Trist, a story Poe invented for his purposes here in the story. Notice how the events of the story correspond to the actual events in the Usher mansion on this particular night.
Summarize what happens in the narrator’s reading. Write what is actually taking place in the Usher mansion as he reads. Also, describe Roderick’s state of mind and his reactions at each point in the story.
Mad Trist: Ethelred breaks into the home of the hermit – he “crack, and ripped, and tore all asunder” the door of the dwelling.
Usher mansion / Roderick’s reaction: ___________________________________
Mad Trist: Ethelred finds a dragon within and strikes it with his mace. The dragon makes “a shriek so horrid and harsh, and withal so piercing,” that Ethelred has to cover his ears from the dreadful noise.
Usher mansion / Roderick’s reaction: ___________________________________
Mad Trist: Ethelred, who has killed the dragon, reaches for the shield, which falls at his feet on the floor, “with a mighty great and terrible ringing sound.”
Usher mansion / Roderick’s reaction: ___________________________________
9. What does the reader discover that Roderick has done to Madeline?
10. The final two paragraphs describe the two “falls” of the Usher house. Write a brief description of the fall of Roderick and the fall of the mansion.
