Title: Edgar Allan Poe
1Edgar Allan Poes Fall of the House of Usher
- Guided Story Notes
- Cobb 2011
2Edgar (Allan) Poe (c. 1809-1849)
- Personal History
- abandoned by father as an infant mother died of
tuberculosis when Poe was 3yrs old - Taken in by the Allans but did not get along
with Mr. Allan Mrs. Allan died of tuberculosis,
as well - 18yrs oldPoe is thrown out of college for
gambling - Formed a new family with his aunt, and young
cousin, Virginia Clemm - Married Virginia (she was half his age13yrs
old), but she died 2yrs later (seeing a pattern
here?) - Poe struggled to support his family with a
series of literary magazine jobs, where he
received scathing reviews - His life matched the Romantic ideal of the
starving artist who suffered for the purity of
his art
One of literatures most brilliant, but erratic,
stars.
His Literature Success horror, science
fiction, detective stories Themes madness,
untimely death, and obsession Common
Characters Deranged narrators, young beautiful
(dead) women, etc., all which mirrored his
personal life Careful use of language, creation
of a single, calculated effect, championed
rigorous structure
3Poes Works Inspire Others
- The Murders in the Rue Morgue laid the
foundation for the modern detective story - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was inspired to write his
series of detective adventures, Sherlock Holmes
4Poes Works Inspire Others (part two)
- Russian novelist Feodor Dostoevsky explored the
criminal mind as a result of Poes influence - Today, Stephen King accredits Poe with inspiring
portions of his book (turned-into-movie) The
Shining - The Baltimore Ravens have three mascots Edgar,
Allan and Poe
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6The Fall of the House of Usher
Point of View the vantage point from which the
writer tells a story
- (p. 276) the narrator (who we realize has no
name) is a character who claims to provide an
objective view, but whose rationality becomes
suspect during the course of the tale - He says, I feel a creeping upon me, by slow yet
certain degrees, the wild influences of his own
Usher's fantastic yet impressive
superstitions. - How would the story change if we read it from
Roderick Ushers point of view? What would you
see?
7The Fall of the House of Usher
Atmosphere the mood or feeling created in a
piece of writing
- Poe uses words like dull, dark, soundless,
autumn, oppressively, dreary, evening, gloom,
unredeemed dreariness, shadowy fancies, ghastly
tree stems, vacant and eyelike windows to
demonstrate atmosphere - (p. 262, 280-281) a rotting mansion, mysterious
illnesses, strange sounds at night, a person
buried alive all to create a sense of dread and
menace
8The Fall of the House of Usher
Parody a work that makes fun of another work by
imitating some aspect of the writers style
- The narrator reads the parody of Sir Ethelred to
Roderick - (p. 276) Poe is parodying the excesses of
romances popular tales of knights who undertake
adventures, perform heroic deeds and eventually
win a virtuous lady - How is Sir Ethelred not all a medieval knight
should be? - He requires wine for courage and strength
- He is intimidated by a stubborn hermit
- He confronts the hermit only to escape the bad
weather
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10The Fall of the House of Usher
Symbol a concrete object, a person, a place or
an action that works on at least two levels it
functions as itself and suggests a wider meaning
- Poe uses the following symbols in this story and
other connections - The vacant, eye-like windows of the
house---Rodericks lack of sensory feeling or his
growing madness - The gloomy, decaying house---the condition of the
family/Rodericks mind - Rodericks painting of a vault/tunnel---Madelines
tomb - The fissure, or crack, that runs through the
middle of the house----the break in Rodericks
mind - The frequent and violent alterations in the wind
during the storm---the split in Rodericks psyche - Rodericks guitar---his inner turmoil or wild,
creative energies
11Roderick Usher (above) And The House of Usher
(right)
12The Fall of the House of Usher
Doubling heroes and heroines are hard to
distinguish from one another and often have the
same physical and mental traits of Poe himself
- There are two instances of doubling in this
story - Roderick?house
- -local peasants use the name The House of Usher
to mean both the family, and the mansion - -the house is mirrored in the lurid tarn (dark
lake) outside the narrator gazes into it hoping
to escape the oppressive effect of the house
13Madeline and Roderick Usher
14The Fall of the House of Usher
Doubling heroes and heroines are hard to
distinguish from one another and often have the
same physical and mental traits of Poe himself
- Roderick?Madeline
- -What descriptions does the narrator give of
their shared appearances? - Doubling is common in Romantic literature and
essential to Gothic fiction, where criminals
resemble victims
15After Reading.
- What happens to
- Madeline?
- Roderick?
- The house?
- Where does the narrator go?
- Reflections? Comments?
16Birth
Death
This plaque marks the approximate location where
Edgar Poe was born in Boston.
Edgar Allan Poe is buried in Baltimore, Maryland