2020/21 Quarter 1 Revision Guide

Grade 10 Subject English Language Arts

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UNIT 1: Inside the Nightmare
(Short Story): The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe Pg. 12-35
Concept Vocabulary and Word Study Pg. 34
Words that convey decay or destruction: Annihilate, Antiquity, Fissure,
Dissolution, Rending, Tumultuous Grammar:
Types of Nouns and Pronouns (Worksheet on Classera)

Key Concepts

An unnamed narrator arrives at the House of Usher, a very creepy mansion owned by his boyhood friend
Roderick Usher. Roderick has been sick lately, afflicted by a disease of the mind, and wrote to his friend, our
narrator, asking for help. The narrator spends some time admiring the awesomely spooky Usher edifice. While
doing so, he explains that Roderick and his sister are the last of the Usher bloodline, and that the family is
famous for its dedication to the arts (music, painting, literature, etc.). Eventually, the narrator heads inside to
see his friend.
Roderick indeed appears to be a sick man. He suffers from an "acuteness of the senses," or hyper-sensitivity to
light, sound, taste, and tactile sensations; he feels that he will die of the fear he feels. He attributes part of his
illness to the fact that his sister, Madeline, suffers from catalepsy (a sickness involving seizures) and will soon
die, and part of it to the belief that his creepy house is sentient (able to perceive things) and has a great power
over him. He hasn’t left the mansion in years. The narrator tries to help him get his mind off all this death and
gloom by poring over the literature, music, and art that Roderick so loves. It doesn’t seem to help.
As Roderick predicted, Madeline soon dies. At least we think so. All we know is that Roderick tells the narrator
she’s dead, and that she appears to be dead when he looks at her. Of course, because of her catalepsy, she
might just look like she’s dead, post-seizure. Keep that in mind. At Roderick’s request, the narrator helps him to
entomb her body in one of the vaults underneath the mansion. While they do so, the narrator discovers that
the two of them were twins and that they shared some sort of supernatural, probably extrasensory, bond.

About a week later, on a dark and stormy night, the narrator and Usher find themselves unable to sleep. They
decide to pass away the scary night by reading a book. As the narrator reads the text aloud, all the sounds from

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the fictional story can be heard resounding from below the mansion. It doesn’t take long for Usher to freak out;
he jumps up and declares that they buried Madeline alive and that now she is coming back. Sure enough, the
doors blow open and there stands a trembling, bloody Madeline. She throws herself at Usher, who falls to the
floor and, after "violent" agony, dies along with his sister. The narrator flees; outside he watches the House of
Usher crack in two and sink into the dark, dank pool that lies before it.

What is Gothic Literature?

Gothic literature is a genre that emerged as one of the eeriest forms of Dark Romanticism in the late 1700s, a
literary genre that emerged as a part of the larger Romanticism movement. Dark Romanticism is characterized
by expressions of terror, gruesome narratives, supernatural elements, and dark, picturesque scenery. This
fictional genre encompasses many different elements, and has undergone a series of revivals since its
inception.

Characteristics of the Gothic Novel

The term Gothic novel broadly refers to stories that combine elements from horror and romanticism. The
Gothic novel often deals with supernatural events, or events occurring in nature that cannot be easily
explained or over which man has no control, and it typically follows a plot of suspense and mystery.
Here is a list of some common elements found in Gothic novels:

 Gloomy, decaying setting (haunted houses or castles with secret passages, trapdoors, and other
mysterious architecture)
 Supernatural beings or monsters (ghosts, vampires, zombies, giants)
 Curses or prophecies
 Damsels in distress
 Heroes
 Romance
 Intense emotions

Grammar:

Types of Nouns: Types of Pronouns

- Common nouns: - - Personal Pronouns: I, me, my, mine, he, him, his,
Proper Nouns: she, …………
house, cat, girl, foot, country - Relative Pronouns: Who, that, which, …………
Spain, Fido, Sony - Demonstrative Pronouns: This, that, these, those.
- Concrete Nouns: - - Indefinite Pronouns: Everybody, none, all, few,
Abstract Nouns: some, many, ………
table, apple, rabbit, ear love, creativity, democra - Interrogative Pronouns: Who, when, where, why,
cy ……..
- Collective Nouns: - Reflexive or Intensive: Myself, herself,
crowd, flock, committee …………………….

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