Figures of speech in The Fall of the House of Usher

Figures of speech in The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Fall of the House
of Usher”, sets a tone that is dark, gloomy, and threatening. His inclusion of highly descriptive words and
various forms of figurative language enhance the story’s evil nature, giving the house and its inhabitants
eerie and “supernatural” qualities. Poe’s effective use of personification, symbolism, foreshadowing, and
doubling create a morbid tale leading to, and ultimately causing, the fall of (the house of) Usher. Poe’s
use of personification, the act of giving human characteristics to nonhuman things, assigns the house of
Usher a powerful and evil presence. In the first paragraph of the story, the narrator describes the house
as having “vacant eye-like windows”. He uses this description twice: first to show that the house has
seen everything that has led to the fall of Usher, and again to emphasize the unidentified deception of
the house. The narrator also describes his negative reaction to the house as a “hideous dropping off of
the veil”. This statement describes what the house has revealed to the narrator, a disgusting and
disappointing appearance. Poe also uses symbolism to compare the deterioration of the house to the
fall of the Usher dynasty. In Roderick’s poem, “The Haunted Palace”, he describes the history of the
house as it began as a strong and “radiant palace”, which over time became a decrepit, disease-ridden
cage. The radiant palace repres...