“The Fall of the House of Usher” In Edgar Allen Poe’s classic short story “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the characters of Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline are on the brink of dissolution, where Madeline is presumed dead hand has been buried while Usher himself wastes away from a disease which heightens his senses to a painful state. The composition between Madeline – entombed in the earth – and Usher – elevating himself …showed first 75 words of 600 total…

…showed last 75 words of 600 total…Fall of the House of Usher” contains many traits that denote it as being representative of its time period. Lines such as: “[…] with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after- dream of the reveler upon opium – the bitter lapse into every- day lie […] ” (Poe: 738 - 739) denotes that there are aspects of the era in which Poe wrote that carried over into this story.