The first five paragraphs of the story present the arrival of the narrator and describe the House of Usher and its bleak surroundings. The narrator, who is a childhood companion of Roderick Usher's, arrives to find an old mansion with "the remodelled and inverted images of the gray sedge, and the gastly tree-stems, and the vacant and eye-like windows. (Poe 350)" His first view of the house comes in a large pool of tarn, or swampy, dead matter, surrounding the house. The narrator, who remains nameless throughout the story, immediately says that he is filled with "a sense of insufferable gloom. (Poe 350)" This is Poe's way of foreshadowing the dark, dreary conditions he is going to be displaying fo

The narrator, upon entering the house, sees a typically furnished 19th century dwelling. However, he becomes confused as to why familiar objects such as the tapestries on the wall and the tall archways make him feel even more superstitious. He even describes the suits of armor on the walls as having a ghost- or phantom-like quality. The narrator sees this as the cause of the mental illness that Roderick told him about in the letter that he received summoning him there. The room also has books and musical instruments scattered all over it. These, however, fail to "give any vitality to the scene. (Poe 353)"

When the narrator first meets his host, Usher greets him very warmly, and the narrator sits with Usher silently for some time. While he sits there, he cannot believe hwo much he has been changed since they were childhood friends. Usher is described as "cadaverous of complexion, (Poe 354)" and has very thin and pallid lips, a nose of "a delicate Hebrew model, (Poe 354)" a finely molded chin, and very fine and thin hair that appears to not have been cut in ages. It has often been noted that Roderick Usher's features closely resemble those of Poe himself. (Bloom 19)

r the reader during the story. Poe emphasizes the tarn around the mansion several times in the opening paragraphs. The narrator compares the view of the house in the pool of tarn to "the after-dream of the reveller upon opium. (Poe 350)" He uses all his logic and reason to try and view everything he sees in a rational manner, yet upon looking over the house and its surroundings, he has a heightened sense of superstition. He goes on to say that, "about the whole mansion and domain there hung an atmosphere peculiar to themselves and their immediate v

Some common words found in the essay are:
Poe Bloom, Roderick Usher's, House Usher, Poe American, inanimate objects, roderick usher's, house supernatural, poe 354, house usher, bloom 19, poe 350, Fall House, house supernatural quality, giving house supernatural, life-like characteristics, story giving, narrator begins, fall house usher, house inanimate objects,
Approximate Word count = 1169
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)