The Fall of the House of Usher is one among many of Edgar Allan Poe’s morbid classics.  The literature of Poe is an exciting maze with twists, turns, and something different at every corner.  Through his expansive vocabulary, complete in-depth characters, and spectacular variety of symbols, Poe makes it possible for the reader to see how the beginning of the story foreshadows the events to come.

 In this tale, Poe uses his masterful diction and syntax to create a murky ambiance.  This short story is full of very depressing vocabulary.  Terminology such as “dreary”, “superstition”, and “gloom” help to compliment this dark, eerie tale.  Poe creates an eerie account of a visit to an old friend that ends up being awful.  He makes the reader feel as if they are experiencing the same horror that he is.  There are many lines in this short story that strike the reader as terrorizing, such as the line near the conclusion of Poe’s story: “Here he sprang furiously to his feet, and shrieked out his syllables, as if in the effort he were giving up his soul – ‘Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door!’” (Poe). This scene is one of many that are filled with several frightening vistas with the intention of fill the mind of an unsuspecting reader.  Poe uses his expert writing skills to set the perfect mood for this story.
   

The House of Usher is used in many ways in this story.  In the story Poe describes the house as follows:  “I looked upon the scene before me — upon the mere house… upon the bleak walls — upon the vacant eye-like windows — upon a few rank sedges — and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees” (Poe).  Of course it is physically the archaic family home of the Usher legacy, but Poe also uses the house for symbolic means.  Poe uses the gloomy, dilapidating House of Usher as a frightening symbol, which is a foreboding of eventual demise.  The fall of the house itself occurs when Madeline Usher kills her brother Roderick.  The narrator then runs outdoors from the horrifying scene just in time before the house collapses.  This marks the end of the family line, because Roderick was the last male heir.

When it comes to character makeup, Edgar Allan Poe is superb.  His characters in the Fall of the House of Usher are displayed and described in great detail.  It is extremely easy for a reader to be able to picture Roderick Usher in their minds.  He is one of those people that someone meets when they are young, but the two do not see each other for  many years.  When the two finally meet, it seems to them like they are meeting for the first time.  Roderick is a nervous man with what seems to be a few mental issues.  He is of European descent with extremely fair skin, soft, silky hair, and large bright eyes.  After taking note of how insane Roderick can be, it is possible for the reader to see how he would do something like burying his sister alive.  Lady Madeline, Roderick’s twin sister, looks very much similar to him him, but since she had a sickness and, while buried alive, was locked inside her coffin for several days, she took on an awfully skeletal appearance.

Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, the Fall of the House of Usher, is one filled with great suspense and horror.  By utilizing his extensive vocabulary, he successfully masters the short story.  Through his diction and syntax, Poe is able to set an ominous mood unlike any other can.  His uses of symbols throughout the story are very meaningful, like the “fall” of the House of Usher in how it is literal and metaphoric.  The characters’ descriptions fit their actions perfectly, as the depictions of their natures give hints to the events that follow in the narrative.   Many would consider The Fall of The House of Usher to be a treat for any lover of American Literature to enjoy.