About Edgar Allen Poe: Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849. He was known for his dark and sinister poems including his top poems, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Raven. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the next year. He was adopted by John and Frances Allen. The family had to pay debts that resulted from gambling, and the cost of Poe's education. He only went to University of Virginia for one semester due to the lack of money they had. After his mother died, Poe decided to write poetry and separated from his father. His work forced him to move to other states including, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In 1835, Poe married his 13-year old cousin, Virginia Clemm. In January 1845, Poe published "The Raven." Two years later, his wife died of tuberculosis. This put him through a deep depression and thus starting his dark/gothic era in his life. At age 40 in 1849 Edgar Allen Poe died to an unknown cause. Summary: The story is about an unnamed narrator who has a childhood friend named Roderick Usher who owns a very creepy mansion. Roderick lives with his sister Madeline in his massive mansion. In the beginning, the narrator informs us that Usher is mysterious and reserved. Roderick summons our narrator to his mansion by sending him a letter that told him to immediately report to his house because he was sick and is suffering from some sort of mental disease. Madeline is suffering from a disease as well and Usher feels that he and his sister are soon to expire. Before the narrator enters the mansion, he notes to himself that the area seems to be filled with some sort of evil with the dead trees and decaying grass. The house also looks to be unsafe with the broken rocks underneath to keep the house stable. Once inside, the narrator scouted out where Roderick was after noticing how the inside looks as scary as the outside. Roderick then tells him how his sister is going through a bad time in her life. He feels so bad for her and looks to be less energetic than normal. The narrator decides to stay with him for a few days. He could do nothing to cheer Roderick up. Madeline then died and is temporarily buried underneath the house in fear that scientists will use her for experiments. One night, both the narrator and Roderick couldn't fall asleep and saw a mysteriously glowing gas around the house. The narrator tells Roderick that it is something he has not seen before. The narrator reads "Mad Trist" by Sir Launcelot, a medieval romance story to Roderick to past the night away. As he is reading he hears noises that correspond to the sound that the book is trying to describe. He first ignores the noises, but then realizes that they are getting louder and louder. Roderick then proceeds to tell the narrator that he has been hearing these sounds for days. He also believes that the noises are from Madeline. He believes that they buried her alive and is trying to escape from her tomb. In a snap of the finger the gust blows the window and door open and both the narrator and Roderick then sees Madeline standing in front of the door covered in blood. Roderick then dies from fear and the narrator rushes out of the house while it crumbles to the ground. Analysis Of Story: In the beginning of the story, the theme is gloomy, dark, and has the feeling of some sort of evil presence coming from the house. When the narrator meets Roderick, he tells the narrator that he will die of fear, which he then does at the end of the book. When Roderick tells the narrator that his sister is standing in front of the door, she is. Whenever Roderick said something that is going to happen, like when he sang about the house falling, it happened. These things might be because Roderick can somehow foresee the future. The old, scary, crumbling house appears to be something that is in the story for a reason. Just like how the house is old and has the unsafe feeling, is because at the end the house falls to the ground. Also how the scary nature of the house makes readers feel uneasy and unexpected for what's to come. At the end of the story, the house crumbling may also symbolize how Poe felt about his own life. He may of felt that his life was crumbling right below his feet. Connection to Gothic/Dark Romanticism: The Fall of The House of Usher relates to the time period perfectly. This book was published in 1839 which means that if was the time after his mother died, but before his wife died. The dark/gloomy mood in this story relates to how dark romanticism was supposed to feel like. The uneasiness, scary, and unsafe feelings that the story presents were how Edgar Allen Poe was feeling at this time in his life. His feeling of depression could only be cured by creating a poem to represent how he feels. The evil presence of Madeline and her "death" was a main part in this story, just like how his family members deaths were to him in his family. Study Questions: 1. How does this story relate to Poe's life 2. Why is Madeline an important character in the story? 3. What signs of foreshadowing were represented? 4. How does the story connect with gothic/dark romanticism? 5. Why do you think this story was so successful? Answers to Study Questions: 1. This story represents Poe's life because of all the ways is feels like his life. Madeline representing the deaths in his family, the dark/gloomy feeling in the story representing how Poe felt at the time the wrote the short story, and the crumbling of the house representing how Poe's life is crumbling too. 2. Madeline is an important character in the story because she represented how both Poe and Roderick lost many close relatives in their lives. 3. Some signs of foreshadowing that were represented in this story were when Roderick told the narrator that he is going to die of fear, he does. When Roderick sang about the house crumbling, it did. Also when Roderick said that Madeline is standing right outside of the door, she is. One las one was the title of the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," which the house does fall at the end of the story. 4. The story connects with dark romanticism because of the feelings that are represented in the story. The dark, evil, and scary feelings that are portrayed in this story also are part of the dark/gothic romanticism era. 5. This book was so successful because not many authors could correctly write a short story and not even that, but there were not many dark romantic authors out there that wrote as well as Poe wrote. Resources Used: http://www.shmoop.com/fall-of-house-of-usher/summary.html http://www.enotes.com/topics/fall-house-usher Image: http://lit215.pbworks.com/w/page/59932266/The%20Fall%20of%20the%20House%20of%20Usher Works Cited: http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Poe/Usher.pdf Recap Video https://www.powtoon.com/online-presentation/cu1BwF7XLU9/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-recap-video/#/