The first line of the story paints a dark and foreboding atmosphere:

"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". (335)

This first line also leaves many clues as to how the story will progress. One

can sense that something negative is going to happen. The day is described as "dull, dark, and soundless"; this has a connotation of death. The lack of sound represents a lack of life. The heavens are described as hanging low, which means that death was near. The fact that the story takes place in autumn is no coincidence. In autumn trees go into a dormant, almost death-like state, much like the catatonic trance that Lady Madeline succumbs to. In another respect, autumn is commonly referred to as fall because leaves fall off trees, Poe could be alluding to the subsequent fall of the house of Usher.

"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; pestilent and mystic vapor, dull, sluggish, faintly discernible, and leaden-hued" (336).

Once he enters the house, the narrator sees the inside of the house as well as the strange way in which the people living there behave. He describes the atmosphere inside the house:

Poe's use of imagery in Fall of

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Approximate Word count = 718
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)