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An essay about figurative language
Character development introduction
An essay about figurative language
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In the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allen Poe, many descriptive words are used to create an eerie mood. Poe’s use of figurative language allows readers to delve into his chaotic view of loss and to experience the mood of despair. Poe uses figurative language to quickly draw the reader into the story. For example, in the beginning of the story, he personifies the house in saying that it has “vacant eye-like windows,”(Poe 294) and that the house’s horrific appearance is that of “the hideous dropping off of the veil.”(294) His descriptions of the house are luring in the reader in preparation for the story that has already begun. Poe uses words that draw attention such as “dull”(293), “dark”(293), “dreary”(293), “melancholy”(293), …show more content…
In the beginning of the story, the narrator says that he “...at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.”(293) This leaves the reader imagining the appearance of the house and wonder why the house looks so gloomy and desolate. The figurative language use of the shades being “drew on” also attracts attention and evokes feeling and image. The evening does not have actual curtains to be drawn, but the darkness of the evening does close in. Also, near the start of the story, the narrator describes the large, low, vaporous cloud that is wrapped around the mansion; “--an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn --a pestilent and mystic vapour, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued.”(296) The cloud oppresses the reader, making them anxious with anticipation. The cloud is frighteningly described with human like …show more content…
Characterization developed in Roderick Usher is represented in the narrator’s descriptions of Usher’s looks. “The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its Arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity.”(298) The hollowness of Roderick’s face, careless hair hygienics, and the simple inhumane looks that he possesses reveal pieces of his personality that do not connote a healthy or normal man. The narrator’s voicings of Roderick’s actions also reveal a great deal about his demeanor. “He suffered much from a morbid acuteness of the senses; the most insipid food was alone endurable; he could wear only garments of certain texture; the odours of all flowers were oppressive; his eyes were tortured by even a faint light; and there were but peculiar sounds, and these from stringed instruments, which did not inspire him with horror.”(298) Usher was very particular and these facts reveal even more of just how strange and mysterious he
In Poe literature readers will see an abundance of suspense, symbolism, and gothic elements used mostly to create gloomy atmospheres. In "Fall of the House of Usher" Poe uses suspense, symbolism, and gothic elements to create a chilling tone of fear, loneliness, and oppression.
In the story, “The Fall of The House of Usher”, there are many mysterious happenings that go on throughout the story between the characters Roderick Usher and the narrator. Throughout the story, Edgar Allan Poe uses themes such as madness and insanity to connect the house back to Roderick Usher. In the “Fall of The House of Usher”, the narrator goes through many different experiences when arriving to the house. The narrator’s experiences start out as almost unnoticeable in the beginning, turn into bigger ones right before his eyes, and end up becoming problems that cause deterioration of the mind and the house before the narrator even decides to do anything helpful for Roderick and his mental illness. In “The Fall of The House of Usher”, Edgar Allan Poe uses comparison between the physical House of Usher and the family of Usher to describe that looks can be deceiving and that little problems can lead to later downfall.
Edgar Allan Poe primarily authored stories dealing with Gothic literature; the stories were often quite dreary. Poe possessed a very sorrowful view of the world and he expressed this throughout his literary works. His goal was to leave an impression with every detail that he included in his stories. Although Poe’s stories seem very wretched and lackluster they all convey a certain idea. A trademark of Poe’s is his use of very long complex sentences. For instance, in his work The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe tried to ensure that every detail was as relevant as possible by integrating a wide variety of emotion. In the third paragraph, of page two hundred ninety-seven, Poe wrote, “Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around…” This sentence illustrates the descriptiveness and complexity that Edgar Allan Poe’s works consisted of. The tormented cognizance of Poe led him to use a very gloomy diction throughout his writing. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of symbols and the way he conveyed his writing expr...
(1265) along with other disturbing words to stress the mood of horror. Furthermore, the house evokes suspense as it strikes the reader with curiosity as to why the building presents such a dreadful and uneasy feeling. Poe describes the house with further detail emphasizing its ghostly traits: “Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene” (1267). Poe describes the house using very descriptive and daunting words contributing to the story’s depressive mood as well as its suspense.
Poe begins his with a description of the setting. It was a “..dull, dark, and soundless day..” (Poe, 90). The narrator explains that he is on his way to an old friend 's house, Roderick and Madeline Usher, who both live in the mansion. He then explains what he sees at first glimpse of the mansion. “I looked upon the scene before me – the bleak walls, vacant eye-like windows, rank sedges, and a few white trunks of decayed trees..” (90). The setting is dark and full of potential evil; making it a romantic
Poe’s 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.
In "The Fall of the house of Usher," Edgar Allen Poe creates suspense and fear in the reader. He also tries to convince the reader not to let fear overcome him. Poe tries to evoke suspence in the reader's mind by using several diffenent scenes. These elements include setting, characters, plot, and theme. Poe uses setting primarily in this work to create atmosphere. The crack in the house and the dead trees imply that the house and its surroundings are not sturdy or promising. These elements indicate that a positive outcome is not expected. The thunder, strange light, and mist create a spooky feeling for the reader. The use of character provides action and suspense in the story through the characters' dialogue and actions. Roderick, who is hypochondriac, is very depressed. He has a fearful apperance and his senses are acute. This adds curiosity and anxiety. The narrator was fairly normal until he began to imagine things and become afraid himself. Because of this, the audience gets a sense that evil is lurking. Madeline is in a cataleptic state. She appears to be very weak and pail. Finally, when she dies, she is buried in a vault inside of the mansion. In this story, the plot consists of rising events, conflict, climax, and resolution. The rising events include the parts in the story when the narrator first arrives at the house, meets Roderick, and hears about Roderick's and Madeline's problems. Madeline's death and burial are part of the conflict. At this point, Roderick and the narrator begin to hear sounds throughout the house. The sounds are an omen that an evil action is about to occur. The climax is reached when Madeline comes back from the dead and she and her twin brother both die. Finally, the resolution comes when the narrator escapes from the house and turns around to watch it fall to the ground. The theme that Edgar Allen Poe is trying to convey is do not let fear take over your life because it could eventually destory you.
Poe sets the setting as dark and gloomy, most likely to give the reader the death is in the air vibe in the beginning of “The Fall of the House of Usher”. “There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. What was it - I paused to think - what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?” The narrator, who is nameless throughout the whole story, receives a letter from an old childhood friend. According to the letter Roderick, the narrator’s childhood friend, has invited the narrator
In the short story, Poe, similarly to Hawthorne in The House of the Seven Gables, sets the story in a dark house where no light or happiness seems to exist. Poe describes the house “as the melancholy House of Usher” that causes a “sense of insufferable gloom to pervade [the narrator’s] spirit” (Poe 264). This is crucial because it shows Poe incorporate the Dark Romantic quality of a gloomy, supernatural-like atmosphere. The haunting exterior creates a sense of dread which builds suspicion and suspense throughout the story. Poe describes the house as having “minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web from the eaves… and a crumbling condition of the individual stones…woodwork which has rotted for years” (Poe 265). In this quote, Poe describes the decaying state of the house and seems to compare it to the person inside the house, Rodrick Usher. The windows resemble his eyes and the fungi is his hair. This is important because Poe expresses the Dark Romantic qualities of suffering in the human spirit. Just like the outside of the house is falling apart, so is Rodrick’s mental stability and sanity; Rodrick suffers inside the house and his mind is deteriorating and decaying. Keith Neilson writes how “The Fall of the House of Usher” is a Dark Romantic work because it contains a “haunted atmosphere, darkness, and evilness” (Neilson). Poe writings and works are heavily layered with Dark Romantic ideas to visually display the supernatural and mystical scenes that he presents to the readers. Edgar Allan Poe writes of evilness and suffering to expose the readers to the faults of humanity and the darkness that exists in the world. His powerful and dark descriptions not only leave a lasting mark on readers’ emotions but an impression on the literary world as
The Fall Of The House of Usher is a terrifying tale of the demise of the Usher family, whose inevitable doom is mirrored in the diseased and evil aura of the house and grounds. Poe uses elements of the gothic tale to create an atmosphere of terror. The decaying house is a metaphor for Roderick Usher’s mind, as well as his family line. The dreary landscape also reflects his personality. Poe also uses play on words to engage the reader to make predictions, or provide information. Poe has also set the story up to be intentionally ambiguous so that the reader is continually suspended between the real and the fantastic.
The Depiction of Fear in The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
An author's use of literary devices creates mental images for the reader and keeps the reader interested throughout the narrative. In "The Fall of the House of Usher", Poe uses suspense, symbolism, and Gothic elements, such as dark atmospheres, because his purpose is to make the reader anticipate upcoming events in the story.
The first reason that the paragraph is successful is the fact that it sets the key element of the story, the tone. When reading the introduction, the narrator’s description of the house paints a crystal clear image in one’s mind of horror, dread, death, and decay. The reader is overwhelmed with a sense of evil. However, if one was to read deeper than what is on the surface, they may be surprised. As I mentioned earlier, in Poe’s time a family was often referred to as a house. Keeping this in mind while reading the opening paragraphs, the reader can very well wonder if our narrator is referring to the building in which the Ushers live in or the family that occupies it.
The Fall of the House of Usher written by Edgar Allen Poe is a prime example of how setting can be used to convey very important moods and themes in the text. In The Fall of the House of Usher, the description of the setting more specifically the Usher house is used to emphasis the overall theme of this text which are insanity and death. The story infamously opens with the most deary description of the house of Usher which was observed from a reflection in the water. The narrator describes it as the “mansion of gloom” (Poe, 4). The house’s appearance alone made a “a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit.” (Poe, 3). All of these descriptions of the house and it’s ambience deliver the important of message that house itself is a separate
The Fall of The House of Usher is an eerie, imaginative story. The reader is captured by the twisted reality. Many things in the story are unclear to the reader; but no less interesting. For instance, even the conclusion of the story lends it self to argument. Did the house of Usher truly "fall"? Or, is this event simply symbolism? In either case, it makes a dramatic conclusion. Also dramatic is the development of the actual house. It seems to take on a life of its own. The house is painted with mystery. The narrator himself comments on the discerning properties of the aged house; "What was it, I paused to think, what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the house of Usher" (54)? The house is further developed in the narrator's references to the house. "...In this mansion of gloom" (55). Even the surroundings serve the purpose. The narrator describes the landscape surrounding as having, "... an atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden hued" (55). This fantastic imagery sets the mood of the twisted events. Roderick Usher complements the forbidding surroundings terrifically. His temperament is declining and he seems incessantly agitated and nervous. And, as it turns out, Roderick's fears are valid. For soon enough, before his weakening eyes, stands the Lady Madeline of Usher. This shocking twist in the story is developed through the book that the narrator is reading. The last line that he reads is, "Madman! I tell you that she now stands without the door" (66)! Without suspecting such an event, the reader soon finds Lady Madeline actually standing at the door. She is described as having, "...blood on her white robes, and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame" (66). This line not only induces terror but invites debate. Upon seeing the woman the reader has to consider the cause of her death.