The Fall of the House of Usher

“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day …when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens…” With these words Edgar Allen Poe begins one of his most famous works. Poe was an American writer who will never be forgotten. During the nineteenth century he became known as the Father of American Short Story. Poe’s works are easily identified by his use of vivid imagery and the use of the dark side …

…not to mess with them. Poe’s use of rhetorical embellishment aids in placing the fear in our hearts. From the first line of “ The Fall of the House of Usher”, Edgar Allen Poe is striving toward the single effect of misery. All the gloom in the imagery combined with the negativity of the rhetorical devices sets the stage for this melancholy short story. Poe bar-none uses the best combination of these two mood-setting strategies.