Abstract
In this paper, the author examines the use of symbolism in "The Fall of the House of Usher" and the themes that run throughout the story. The paper takes a look at the the duality of the house which comes to represent family and home.

From the Paper
"The genre of Romanticism is essential to cultural and literary history; its popularity can be attributed to humanity's fascination with the dark and unknown and also its profound interest in the pain and downfall of others. Edgar Allan Poe was instrumental in establishing the foundation of Romanticism that is best known today; his works concern themselves primarily with the occult and the enigmas prevalent within the human psyche. His story "The Fall of the House of Usher" details the psychological and physical demise of the family Usher; Poe translates atmosphere and setting into the characters in the story, and also transfers human qualities into the actual house, which comes to function as a symbol of the Usher family. The title of the story also represents a duality; ultimately, the house is physically destroyed, as is the family. The house of Usher is clearly the personification of the Usher family; the house symbolizes the Usher family's decline into madness and the eventual demise of the family."

Tags:allan, edgar, fall, house, poe, usher, family, house, home, symbol, meaning, qualities

Abstract
This paper presents an in-depth analysis of several symbols in Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." First, the paper discusses the symbolism of the house to the relationship of Roderick and Madeleine Usher. The house is described in detail, which is later reflected in the siblings' relationship. In fact, the paper argues that the house itself becomes another character in the story.

From the Paper
"In Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher," Poe opens the tale by describing the house as the narrator approaches on his way to visit Roderick. As Poe progresses in his tale about the brother and sister he uses the house to help illustrate what is happening in the lives of Roderick Usher and his sister Madeleine. In so doing the house becomes not only a symbol of the lives of Roderick and Madeleine but almost another character. This paper will discuss and illustrate how..."

Tags:Poe, House, House of Usher, Roderick, Madeleine, symbolism.

Abstract
This paper compares the secular fall in the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe and the divine fall within the epic theological poem "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. The paper reports that the theme of falling from grace is common to both, but in the first it is a secular fall whereas in the second it is a divine, spiritual fall.

From the Paper
"However, Poe, while rendering the Biblical figures into a mortal, temporal context, seems to suggest that there is an inherently fallen quality that is irredeemable in some person's souls, like Roderick and Fanny Usher. "Poe mocks the transcendental beliefs, by allowing the characters Roderick Usher, Madeline Usher, the house and the atmosphere to travel in a downward motion into decay and death, rather than the upward transcendence into life and rebirth that the transcendentalists depict. The transcendence of the mind begins with Roderick Usher and is reflected in the characters and environment around him." (Nadeau, 2000) Thus view of the Ushers may be overly harsh--Poe's tone is often not mocking, but elegiac, sympathizing with the downward sinking of the home, and his inversion of the Adam and Eve creation myth, whereby the Usher's failure to procreate and look beyond their union results in the death of their home and line, is not necessarily paraodic, but a warning against self-absorption and narcissism. The fact that tragedy of fallen nature of the Ushers, and the darkness of the house also do not present a perfect parallel either with Milton's Adam and Eve or with the transcendentalist's sunny view of the soul aspiring upwards suggests that the Usher's narcissism deliberately recalls another Miltonic figure, one of arrogance rather than temptation. "

Tags:transcendence, usher, satan, eve, apple, adam

Abstract
A literary review of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", focusing on the use of setting. The writer believes that Poe makes special use of setting, to enhance his story. In this particular novel, his use of setting reveals early in the story that both the Usher family and the Usher mansion are decaying from the inside out. The reader can immediately identify with the setting, as it sits on the verge of collapse.

From the Paper
"When the narrator first approaches the House of Usher, where he is visiting to comfort his old friend, Roderick Usher, he sees a rotten pool of water. He hesitates, reflecting on his reasons for coming to the dark, gloomy house. The narrator reveals that Roderick is suffering from mental depression and asked his old friend to visit him to cheer him up.
The narrator, at this point, looks into the pool of water, seeing the reversed image of the house. The contours of his own image are superimposed upon the house, giving it the appearance of face. In this clever passage, Poe makes the reader feel as though the house is alive."

Tags:background, literature, english, novel, analysis, usher

Abstract
This paper looks at Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and in particular, Poe's narrative strategy and pattern of the narrative. It also examines the literary technique he employs for this horror suspense tale.

From the Paper
"In "The Fall of the House of Usher" the narrative achieves a powerful impact because Poe uses a narrative strategy that reveals plot information only when all devices of suspense have been exhausted by unfolding in parallel the real-time experience of the..."

Tags:Edgar, Allan, Poe, House, of, Usher

Abstract
This paper focuses on the main characters of Roderick Usher and his sister Lady Madeline as well as the eventual demise of the Usher family in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." The writer of this paper describes why the actual Usher home is itself a physical entity and thus becomes a pseudo-character in the plot which Poe uses to both mirror and amplify the story of the principal characters. This paper also discusses Poe's unique writing style by defining the close relationship between environment and character which becomes clearly evident through the narration.

From the Paper
"While the character of the estate takes a toll on the narrator, this same character actually seems to be an extension of the Ushers themselves. By the time we are introduced to Roderick and Madeline Usher, we cannot help but notice the parallels between the estate and the characters. The dull, discolored fa?ade of the House seems to closely resemble the complexions of both characters. The otherworldliness of the environment surrounding the household seems to closely parallel the otherworldliness of the Ushers themselves. The phantom like ethereal impression we get of Madeline is the same as the impression we get from the narrator's description of the atmosphere surrounding the estate."

Tags:literature, review, writing, style, narrative

Abstract
The paper asserts that gothic refers to the encounter with the mysterious and the unknown. The paper explains that the unknown in gothic fiction refers to something that is beyond the normal and rational. The paper illustrates how "The Fall of the House of Usher" presents the conventional themes and motifs of the gothic romance genre. There is the haunted house, the depressing location, the horrors, madness and disease and development of a monstrous bizarre union in destruction and decay. However, the paper concludes that at the heart of the gothic genre, lay the movement towards an expression of the unknown and the mysterious, which lies beyond our comprehension.

Outline:
Introduction and Thesis Statement
The House of Usher and the Unknown
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The works of Edgar Allan Poe were not the first literature to be described as gothic. Poe has as his antecedents many other works that contain the gothic style and content. His work is often described as "A descent from such British milestones in literary Gothicism as Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), William Beckford's Vathek (1786), W. H. Ireland's The Abbess (1798), or Sir Walter Scott's The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) is evident in Poe's writings." (Fisher 72)"
"The gothic in art and literature is defined and described in numerous ways and with a great degree of controversy and disagreement. There are many critics who suggest that there can be no one definitive view of this genre."

Tags:romanticism, genre, mysterious, monstrous, haunted

Abstract
This paper examines and analyzes Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Fall of the House of Usher", which according to the paper engages with dark romanticism. The paper further notes that Poe gave rise to this particular strand of romanticism. The paper compares romanticism to dark romanticism, further noting that dark romanticism had a large focus on creating atmospheres of gloom and terror, macabre events, melodramatic violence and psychological states. The paper then cites examples of dark romanticism in "The House of Usher." Additionally, the paper describes various characters in the story and their relationships with one another. The paper concludes by stating that Poe's story is a dark romantic text which signifies the changes taking place to romanticism which has become inferior to its darker counterpart.

From the Paper
"To understand how dark romanticism engages with Poe s story we must first examine the concept of romanticism and the differences between it and dark romanticism. Romanticism had a reliance on emotions and natural passions, and was an artistic philosophy. There were large focuses on the power of the imagination, the artist as a hero, as well as large interest in the idea of the supernatural. Poe however changed this and gave rise to the term, dark romanticism. This basically involved in taking romanticism one step further in terms of what it already dealt with. More emphasis was given to the frontier of the mind instead of physical nature, as well as more attention not only to imagination but the human mind itself. Poe believed there to be sin and darkness within people, and was fascinated with the unconscious and emotions of fear, terror and madness; things that rationality had never been interested. As such, dark romanticism brought nature into the city where it became scary and threatening; as seen in "House of Usher" during the violent storm. Furthermore, dark romanticism had a large focus on creating atmospheres of gloom and terror, macabre events, melodramatic violence and psychological states."

Tags:romanticism, super natural, fear, emotions, insanity

Abstract
This seven-page-paper provides a discussion about Edgar Allen Poe his classic works. The discussion focuses on Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" as well as the author's life and accomplishments. It details a critical analysis of the work itself as well as a discussion about the possible mindset of the author at the time he wrote it. There were nine sources used to complete this paper.

Abstract
This paper examines the mid-Victorian novellas, "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Purloined Letter," written by Edgar Allen Poe, that the author finds are both written with sensational through thriller and chiller styles of writing that remain within the psyche a long time after reading the novel.

From the Paper
"The Fall of the House of Usher is one novel that can be seen to be a forerunner of psychological chillers, it is about the final members of the family Usher, Roderick and Madeline, both are suffering from illnesses that can only be traced back to a long series on inter- family marriages :
"I had learned that the stem of the Usher race, all time-honored as it was, had put forth, at no period, any enduring branch;"that the entire family lay in the direct line of descent, and had always, " so lain. It was this deficiency undeviating transmission, from sire to son, of the patrimony with the name, which had, at length, so identified the two as to merge the original title of the estate in the quaint and equivocal appellation of the "House of Usher" (Poe 295)."

Tags:psychological, thriller, novel, victorian, horror