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Passage Analysis by Lindsay Coppens

Lindsay Coppens examines how Edgar Allan Poe masterfully employs metaphor and alliteration alongside rich imagery to create a suffocating atmosphere and underscore the theme of alienation in "The Fall of the House of Usher." The passage opens with an oppressive depiction of a dark autumn day as the narrator rides through a desolate landscape, eventually coming into view of the melancholic Usher house. This synergy of language reflects the weight of isolation and decay, inviting readers to feel the pressure bearing down both on the narrator and his surroundings.

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Passage Analysis by Lindsay Coppens

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  1. Passage Analysisby Lindsay Coppens

  2. Thesis: Poe uses metaphor and alliteration in combination with vivid description to establish a mood of heavy pressure while introducing his theme of alienation in “The Fall of the House of Usher.”

  3. The Passage: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

  4. Metaphor: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. The phrase “shades of evening” emphasizes the weight and pressure of the sky pulling down with nightfall.

  5. Alliteration: During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. Heavy, sensory adjectives such as dull, dark, and soundless along with “d” alliteration establish thudding, heavy mood.

  6. Isolation is emphasized through diction: “alone”, “singularly” Vivid Description: Autumn implies decay and impending death During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher. “Within view” is ambiguous…Is he able to see the house…or does the house see him??. Even nature, through the clouds, is oppressively pushing down on the narrator.

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