The Fall of the House of Usher

Edgar Allen Poe was an American writer that lived and wrote in the 19th century. Poe's writings are known for their macabre subject matter. The dark imagery in his "The Fall of the House of Usher" gives the reader an intense environment of pure terror to reside in while he is in the story, as well as giving him a view into the mind of Poe himself. In this story, Poe uses the life-like characteristics …

…quality. The whole story centers around Poe's portrait of an insane man. He goes to great lengths to describe every detail of Roderick Usher's mental illness. Poe's description of Usher's face is very similar to his own features. This knowledge turns "The Fall of the House of Usher": a tale of the introverted, artistic soul tormented and unable to function in the ordinary world, into a brief glance into Poe's own struggles as a writer.