![]() When Madeline dies, things begin to unravel. Illustration by Harry Clarke whose work is often mistakenly attributed to Aubrey Beardsley Our imaginations can always conjure up worse horrors than those we can actually see. "An atmosphere which had no affinity with the air of heaven, but which had reeked up from the decayed trees, and the gray wall, and the silent tarn-a pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued." He begins to feel uneasy all the time and is beginning to believe that Roderick is not afraid of a sickness producing paranormal, but is actually, justifiably afraid of something real, but unknowable. He likes Roderick and enjoys composing songs, writing poetry, and painting pictures with him, but even as they manage to ignore the malaise of their circumstances for a few hours, the melancholy is always lurking to reassert itself on their senses. The atmosphere is beginning to wear on our narrator as well. His twin sister Madeline is also sick and is frequently discovered sleepwalking or really something more like death walking. This trilogy of maladies can start to erode the ability of the mind to reason. This story predates the modern psychology that eventually is able to put a name to those illnesses: hyperesthesia, hypochondria, and severe anxiety. Roderick is suffering from numerous illnesses, all undiagnosable in the 1800s. ![]() An air of stern, deep, and irredeemable gloom hung over and pervaded all." "I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow. Our narrator begins to feel the effects almost immediately. If an environment can permeate a soul with melancholy and fear, then the House of Usher is a detriment to all who enter. When our narrator has been summoned to the bedside of his sick friend Roderick Usher, he finds a household overcast with gloom. What was it-I paused to think-what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?"Ī gothic house that instantly made me think of the House of Usher. If an environment can pe "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. ![]() What was it-I paused to think-what was it that so unnerved me in the contemplation of the House of Usher?" A gothic house that instantly made me think of the House of Usher. "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart-an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. Librarian's note: this entry is for the short story, "The Fall of the House of Usher." Collections of short stories by the author, such as "The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales," can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.more " is one of Poe's best known short stories - if not the best. It's a must-read for fans of the golden era of horror writing. With amazing economy, Poe plunges the reader into a state of deliciously agonizing suspense. " recounts the terrible events that befall the last remaining members of the once-illustrious Usher clan before it is - quite literally - rent asunder. Dive into this classic from the singular mind of Edgar Allan Poe, who is widely regarded as the short story master of horror fiction. With amazing economy, Poe plunges the reader into a state Take the plunge.
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